The one called the Overlord
by Monkeybandit2
Summary: Forced to flee from Konoha from an unknown enemy, possibly branded a traitor by his own naivety, Naruto has little other choice than to walk another path. But does a position define him? Or does his actions define him?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter One: An informal beginning

Konoha, night

It all started... _relatively_ simple. A failed exam. A promise of his dream to come true. Breaking into the Old Man's vault to retrieve the Forbidden Scroll... running off into the forest to the meeting spot and reading an article within the scroll both for a little 'extra credit' while passing the time. Being found by Iruka before Mizuki-sensei, being scolded for stealing the scroll in the first place... being told he was Kyuubi reincarnate by Mizuki and subsequently reassured he wasn't by Iruka...

As bad as it was, that was where things truly went to hell.

With his perfected shadow clone technique he made a literal army of copies that overwhelmed Mizuki by sheer numbers alone by leaping onto him like a wave coming in on all sides. It was then a... presence made itself known from the shadows. The point of conflict was engulfed in an all consuming fire that utterly obliterated everything from the epicenter to the faintest of the blast's limits, leaving all but scorched, blackened earth in its wake. It had decimated his army of clones, fried himself to a severe degree despite being the furthest one there and inadvertently guarded by his own wall of clones... and did nothing but vaporize the unsuspecting chunin in the clearing. If they screamed at all then he couldn't have heard it over the roar of the hellish flame while it lasted. Or quite possibly he had unwittingly drowned out theirs with his own screaming from the sheer pain of the heat assaulting him. As he rolled around on the ground where the grass was still green and cool he almost completely failed to notice the hulking figure making its way toward him, its form illuminated only from the light provided by the burning branches. Unfortunately it only served to silhouette his body and horned head. In no condition to stand and fight, much less form a plan, he fled into the woods just as a ball of fire was hurled toward him. One that would've obliterated him if the sound of snapping and groaning of burning wood warned him of anything.

And then there were the ANBU... He wasn't sure if it was because he stole the scroll or else the revelation of his status as the container of the Nine-Tails but they were out for blood. Thankfully it seemed that they and... 'him' were not on the same side either. Of the two the creature gave chase to Naruto more often than not, but the moment they, the ANBU and the creature, saw one another they launched one attack after another at each other. In any case it afforded him the chance to delve deeper into the woodland and scurry into the cave were he rested now...

For better or worse he couldn't feel much of anything anymore. Not the burning sensation from before, the nicks from the swords and kunai that further maimed him, not even that kunai he found lodged in the front of his shoulder till his eye glanced in its direction. In fact he was only able tell that he was still holding onto the now singed Forbidden Scroll was by looking at how tightly it was clutched in his unfeeling, shredded, bloodied pale arms. But that was not what bothered him... try as he might he could only clutch at that scroll tighter and tighter for dear life as he tried and tried again to keep himself from feeling anything, especially with the knowledge that it was thanks to his own blind trust and ambition that not only led him to this but what it had cost him.

Abrupt giggling of an perhaps crazed but non-maliciously jovial variety emanated from the depths of the cave, causing him to jerk his head to the darkness of the earth's depths. Soon enough an eager small creature of yellow-brown skin scampered out from the darkness with others soon following it. They were virtually naked save for a loincloth for each of them. Only a few wore legitimate clothing, ragged though they were while a select few were armored with equally shoddy bracers or chest pieces if not both. Likewise they were poorly armed with clubs save a few that were armed with nicked, crude swords, knives and simple woodcutter's axes.

"Master! Master!"

As they scampered to him, he in his shock scrambled away, instinctively clutching the scroll as he did so whilst his numb hand attempted to find one of his kunai despite fingering the ring of one without realizing it.

"AH! BIG RED BACK!"

"KILL IT!"

"ATTACK!"

As an angry and berserk horde they rushed passed Naruto without a second glance. In the meantime as they rushed passed him he could've heard a singular voice being echoed off of them, demanding that they stop and "retrieve the young master!" Regardless, with their abrupt change in behavior he looked back and let loose a choked squeal as that perpetually shadowed creature lumbered toward the mouth of the cave as a definitive shadow amongst shadows. Not even the dull ball of fire loosely clutched in what appeared to be a gnarled claw did much to reveal anything beyond the leathery red hide of its arm and the sparse armor protecting it. For a moment it made as if to hurl the ball of fire at the creatures hurtling toward it only to gutturally grunt and growl in both pain and ire when a kunai darted into view and lodged itself into the side of its shoulder.

... It also had a piece of paper attached to it, one end of which was sizzling.

 ** _BOOM!_**

Only a few of the creatures were close enough to be enveloped by the sudden explosion whilst the rest were knocked onto their backs. Even he felt the sheer force of the blast rattle his bones as he shielded his eyes from the brilliant bang of fire and smoke. As for the creature it affected the most... it bellowed in unadulterated anguish and rage. Out of sheer retaliation a bolt of dark fire lanced out from within the cloud in the direction of the other attacker. Not even a moment later it lumbered out of the cloud and soon enough out of sight completely before Naruto could note how badly it was hurt, _if_ it was truly hurt.

"That's it! That's it! Get him back here before that thing comes back to finish the job you useless maggots!"

"Get the Master!"

By the time he brought his attention back to the strange creatures they had already barred down on him in an entangling mass of arms that hoisted him up into the air by his back with little effort. He didn't even have half a second to struggle before they rushed off with him still held up high into the depths of the cave. A few whooped and cried out before being muffled entirely and just as he looked past the scroll still clutched within his arms he found himself thrown feet first into a hole.

 _"_ _GOOF!"_

Unfortunately for all intents and purposes he was stuck; between the scroll and his chest he was too wide to fit through, his legs uselessly kicking empty air within the tunnel itself.

"We don't have time!" the voice from earlier barked, sounding as if speaking through radio. "Yank him by his feet! Jump on his shoulders! Whack on his head if you have to! Those humans can only distract that thing for so long!"

"DOG PILE MASTAH!"

Dementedly giggling to themselves, Naruto was utterly helpless as those creatures pulled on his legs from underneath while the others crashed down on him in a pile. Be it one way or the other if not both he was soon free of his predicament only to be forcibly dragged down the surprisingly spacious but smaller tunnel against his will. He tried to kick at his assailant as it dragged him in a hurry yet he couldn't land a blow, its hands were on his ankles. He tried to reach out to grab a hold of something but only found enough room to only part from the scroll before clapping against the roof of the tunnel he was in, discernible only by the strain his arms felt in trying to rise beyond a rough estimate and the scraping of flesh against earth and stone echoing in his ears. To make matters even worse even if he could at least sit up the tunnel began to echo with the excited hoots and giggles of those creatures as they began to quickly catch up with him.

"Damn it!"

XVX

Underground chamber

He honestly could not recall anything that vexed him more greatly than anything related to goody-two-shoes heroes, harping fat fairies, cunning, thieving gnomes, anything related to goodness and light, and _elves_ than this menace. Hell, he just might be willing to _consider_ the _absolutely miniscule_ possibility of attending some sort of concert orchestrated by those pointy-eared nuisances concerning all things light, love and, _egh!_ fluffy if it meant he could mind his own business and search for a new and qualified Overlord in relative peace! But no. Worse yet he wasn't even sure _which_ irked him more greatly: that demonic beast on a rampage, _AGAIN_ , or having to resort to what could very well be the _very_ _last_ of the original line of Overlords! Or rather the only line of Overlords he could trace back to its source as an Overlord... Regardless, what made this situation even worse was that he had yet to mature in any way evil! Granted he was young of course but there was a principle at stake! He could've at least kicked the crutches out of a crippled beggar! Tormented a cat at the very least! ... Perhaps he did and they simply hadn't noticed, a fair chance of that happening too since they couldn't watch him every hour on the hour, but alas, sometimes Evil was as fickle as it was irrevocably rude at times as made evident on given what was to happen; as much as he loved Evil, it certainly chaffed him the wrong way at times.

 _"_ _OOF!"_

Immediately the grayed minion came to an abrupt halt from its pacing to look over to the source of the noise where an impromptu minion tunnel was made. He wasn't sure whether to smirk or scowl at the sight of a minion struggling to pull up their soon-to-be, but now stuck, master out of the hole by his legs, but he scowled anyway out of sheer force of habit. "Don't just stand there you lolli-louts! Go and help him!" Immediately from the sides a pack of brown minions jumped into action and began to tug and pull on the 'Master's' legs.

"Put your backs into it!" Honestly, it was bad enough already in the good sense of the word.

 _"_ _GAAAH!"_

In a mighty heave the brawny browns managed to finally dislodge their stuck 'Overlord' and went tumbling into each other with the blond landing right atop of them. From the tunnel returned what was left of the haphazard force that was sent to collect him, eagerly swarming him and waiting to see what would happen. With a "humph" he sauntered over to the confused and unnerved child. As he drew closer his scowl worsened as he eyed the child and took immediate note of the startling, unhealthy divide of normal flesh along his back from what could be seen in the gaps of his clothing and the sickening pallor of white that dominated the front. Upon closer inspection his arms, specifically where the outer arm which was exposed amongst the burnt gap in the clothing, they were wet with puss and other juices of skin trying to heal itself as it scabbed over. In fact it was like that in other parts of his body as well on a second look, only hidden to the undiscerning eye; third degree burns... Nerve damage, a blessing in disguise in some cases that would render even hardened men and women into bawling, undignified messes. That or this child had a resilience far greater than most of his old masters. Oh how his shriveled black heart fluttered at that thought!

"Greetings Master!" he announced more grumpily than he would've liked, but as far as he knew he had not the luxury of taking things slow if that thing was on the hunt again. It could be very well on its way again at this very moment! "I'm sure you have a great many questions to ask but I suggest we get out of here before—

 ** _BOOM!_**

 _HE KNEW IT!_

"Blast it! I hate it when we're on the other side of the boot! Come on! The browns and traps can only distract that thing for so long! And they're not even the good ones!"

"What is going on here!?" Naruto shouted at long last.

"No time to explain— ** _BOOM!_** —Needless to say that thing is after you like you personally wronged it!"

"WHY?!"

"For all I care it's just stupider than any minion I ever came across! Now come!" Immediately after he scurried off in the direction of a crude tunnel large enough to permit Naruto to enter through. Hesitant as he was, at the sound of another explosion of fire and a now familiar bellow he followed after the diminutive, gray creature dressed in a cloak of a leather patchwork mantle and tattered cloth without further coaxing. As he began to follow him, ten of the other creatures lined up behind him like dutiful, albeit giddy, bodyguards as the rest either ran off ahead of their gray counterpart or went off with war cries in the direction of the roaring as it grew louder by the second.

"This way! We mustn't tarry long!" the grayed creature shouted despite it being a tunnel... Or rather he thought it was a tunnel until a shaft of moonlight peaked through a hole in the ceiling.

The light was dim but in the absence of a torch or a flashlight it was more than enough to at least illuminate a walkway amongst an abrupt chasm beneath them, the walls of the tunnel giving way to a natural cavern. Caught off guard, his meandered to the side and came to an abrupt halt when he felt his foot dip almost dangerously forward upon its last step. Curious and squinting as he did so, he peered out into the unlit darkness and edged his foot forward into yet another chasm, identifying that what he was on was a bridge half hidden in the shadows.

"Master! We have no time for dallying!"

Jerking in response, Naruto carefully skidded himself away from the hidden edge of the bridge and cautiously followed after the grayed creature, the brown ones still eagerly following him.

"DAMN IT!" Soon enough however he was forced to stop. It took him a realize as to why but looking to the Gray he finally noticed what appeared to be some kind of glowing lantern hovering over its hunched shoulder. A glowing... crystal(?) to be exact. Still it was enough to reveal at least part of what appeared to be a cave-in at the end of the bridge where another tunnel awaited them. A large boulder blocked the path to be exact. "I knew I should've put that much waypoint closer! But nooo..."

The creature swiveled in place and looked to the blond with a scowl. "Well I suppose this is as good an opportunity as any seeing as we're not burning to death. Now Master! Sweep the Browns forward and they'll clear this mess away for your magnificence to walk through."

"Huh?"

"Just wave your arm in this direction: minions are simple like that!"

"Uh... right..." He hesitantly glanced behind him at the eager faces looking up at him. Frowning, he returned his attention to the boulder and thrust his arm out at it. The moment he did so the 'minions' cheered or eagerly roared as they lurched forward and sprinted toward the stone, slamming themselves into it and shoving it back with impressive force. Already the boulder gave way and was being pushed back by the creatures, down the tunnel and into the darkness it provided.

"Mm, yes. That's good. Very good," the gray 'minion' mumbled aloud as he waddled to the tunnel. "I'm glad to see my worries were unfounded. Come Master! I'd rather not find out how fast that dumb behemoth is should it catch up." As if to confirm or challenge that claim a roar echoed out from the previous tunnel, albeit faintly. It was enough to spur blond into action however as he followed the creature once more into the shadowed tunnel with only the sound of the grunting 'browns' to accompany them throughout the trip.

Soon enough the tunnel once again opened into a room, one poorly but easily brightened by a crude brazier. It also appeared to be the final room as far as their path was concerned, not to mention it was large enough for the minions to abandon the boulder they had pushed into it and leave ample enough room for them to scurry past it to return to the blond once more; even if they had bothered to stop and crowd the area around the rock there would've been room for both him and the other creature both to squeeze through, barely. Regardless, once he passed the boulder he found not another tunnel but what appeared to be an old glyph covered pad of some kind surrounded by small stones as if it had erupted from the ground.

"Just give me a minute... Hopefully that glutton hadn't drained _all_ the magic on the other end. It would be marvelous if he had moved on however. One less annoyance to say the least."

Unsure of what he was talking about as he sauntered to the pad, Naruto shifted about in unease as he looked over his shoulder and past the boulder to the tunnel they had exited from as if expecting... whatever it was to suddenly show up as it previously had without warning. Unfortunately he couldn't tell if it was genuinely empty, or if the creature had somehow managed to sneak into the tunnel despite its size and was staring back at him at this very moment.

Suddenly he looked to his hand, then to the 'minions' who were eagerly awaiting orders. Frowning, he waved it to the boulder and with newfound cries of motivation they began to push the boulder back into the tunnel. As if reading his mind they traveled only to the tunnel's entrance, sealing it off with the rock much like it had before when they first found it.

"Ha! We're in luck!" By the time Naruto looked over to Gnarl he had turned around with a smug grin on his face. It was lost however as he looked about the room as if he had missed something, blinking in confusion to attest to as much before realizing the boulder had been placed onto the entrance. "Ah. I see... Quite clever. I wonder why I haven't thought about that?" he mused to himself as he stroked his beard. "And to think I was afraid you wouldn't have an ounce of wit to you either. " He nodded to himself. "A promising young Lord indeed!"

"Can you finally tell me what's going on?" Naruto demanded at long last.

"Soon, soon Sire," he assured him in a coddling tone. "But first its best we step through this gate whilst it's still active," he said as he gestured to the circular stone pad. A perfect ring of white encircled the primary glyph by use of the crevice between the decorative slab and the emerging stones that surrounded it. "Even I'll admit that it isn't idyllic in any sense, for us at least, it'll be far safer there than here so long as that demon is on the hunt for you. "

He scowled at the gray 'minion' and tightened his hold of the scroll... "Fine." As much as he wanted to argue it he had to ignore the urge to for the sake of current circumstances. That and safeguarding what could be his only... memento... of this night was the only thing he could do from outright breaking down and crying as he licked his wounds.

Without any further prompting he strode to the glowing pad and stepped onto it. It was only a moment later that he realized anything had happened in doing so. That the scenery itself had changed from a partially crafted underground room barely lit by a brazier to the outer ring of what appeared to be a circular room with stone walls. In fact the ring where the pad, amazingly identical to the first one yet built upon an exposed gap within the stonework floor, appeared to be the bottom tier as the wall he found behind him was yet another ringed floor. Above that and partially seen was another tier, and another... From the top of the tiered set of floors he could've sworn he heard someone or something wolfing down a meal at the highest platform, but try as he might by backing away to the outer wall he couldn't see who or what it was.

"Master!" the creature quietly hissed, drawing his attention back to the pad the second after it appeared. It brought it's gnarled hand, finger pointed, to its lips in a shushing gesture before carefully walking away to a nearby door where the morning sun's light crept through.

Looking to the top once more, Naruto followed the creature.

XVX

The Deadlands

Broken, withered, dark, apt descriptions of the once beautiful and humble lands of a now dead kingdom with nary a heir or peasant to proclaim its destruction. At least none who were not traitors to their once kin. Now the fields were dying from diseases yet to be named along with their cattle if any remained alive to begin with. The forests were rotting from both the inside and out as they lost their luster. Villages and towns crumble from neglect as their once caretakers were either dead or had left. Short of burning in hellfire, it was as peaceful as it could get without drawing too many curious stares from anything other than a hapless adventurer, unaware of the deathly shadows that would stalk them the moment they came into his domain. And if word got out of what had happened? That it wasn't the work of 'gods' or natural phenomena converging all at once? That gateways to other realms were being built in secret? Well it would troublesome. Irksome really if they had to move their operations elsewhere once again. At this stage there was still enough of a chance for something to go horribly wrong. The best case scenario of course is that if the world had indeed became aware of its impending fate it would take time for them to rally underneath a single banner to face him. If nothing else he could simply disappear back into the shadows and await a new opportunity when their guard was down. He may not have liked it but as they say, haste produces waste. Besides, countermeasures were in place to buy him time, reduce risks if nothing else... provided of course that they weren't slacking off, again.

Still, putting everything aside from the slow work and bumbling lieutenants at the best of times, this duty wasn't entirely without its charms. While it can be wanting at times, some people and cultures certainly knew how to create an entertaining tale every now and then in their literature.

"My Lord Venos."

When they weren't interrupting him of course.

Quietly a pale man dressed plainly in the attire of an unassuming noble closed the book around his thumb in lieu of a bookmark. Turning about in the library of a now decrepit castle, its king long since assassinated by his deranged son thanks to a quiet suggestion, he disinterestedly looked at the hooded cultist out of the corner of his eye. "Yes?"

He hooded man bowed to him. "I bring word of Lord Fernus' expedition into the Foreign Lands. It seems that the continent he is exploring is full of men and women, lords and peasants alike who could very well be potential threats to your plans. But that is not all..." He paused.

The man bit back an annoyed sigh. "What else?" he patiently demanded. Again the cultist bowed.

"It would seem that despite the vigorous and thorough searching during each of the previous 'expeditions,' there was a survivor. Or at least the descendant of one was found within the continent my lord. In either case this Potential's servants had evacuated him before Lord Fernus could execute him. As of right now they have no clue as to where he is or where they are based. They may have fled altogether."

A tired sigh left the man as he sauntered to a wall within the library, one cleared of bookshelves and other frivolities associated with a library or even a den so as to make room for a collection of scarred weaponry, reclaimed helmets, and maimed remainders. "Exactly whose servants are they referring to?"

"We believe they belong that to the Decimator of the Empire of the Infernal Lands back in the West."

"The one with the... gremlins, wasn't it?" he asked as he picked up a pitted and scored helmet. Five spikes protruded from the rim along the top like a crown. The first two at the farthest sides where the temple would be were small, purely decorative. The next two however rose up like slightly curved horns tapered to point inward rather marginally, or at least one did whereas the other one was shorn off. As for the middle, prominent in its own right, it was more akin to a spike in comparison as it rose halfway up between the two.

"I believe he was called "The Overlord" at the time," the cultist replied.

"Ah yes, I remember now," the noble hummed as he set the helmet back where he found it. "Between making those lands utterly uninhabitable and the skirmishes that followed, he and his successors proven themselves to be quite vexing..."

"Where is this descendant now?" he suddenly asked the cultist.

"Their report claims they had to retreat— the village the 'successor' was inhabiting at the time was filled with those of lesser Potentials, but many of whom are powerful nevertheless even for the likes of Lord Fernus."

"I see. Have the others at least sent word in regards to their own tasks?"

"... Only a few reported back that they had made landfall my lord."

The man meticulously reached up and began to rub his forehead. "Bring me a map. I want to know where the _useful_ ones are at least before some hero or warlord causes us further trouble."

"Yes my lord."

He didn't bother in the slightest in turning to ensure his agent had indeed ran off to another section of the library to find the item he request; his eyes never left the ruined helmet. "Your kind just lives to cause us trouble, doesn't it?" With a deliberate sigh he reached over and with a single finger he knocked it over onto its side. "It doesn't matter," he said to himself as he turned around and left to the nearest window. From there he looked down the courtyard where a handful of monolithic rings of stone were either being crafted, being inscribed upon or were being set upon previously dug out holes; once they were in, the bottom third of the ring would be covered with dirt and held in place by supports as the ground settled. "We can always do things by force in the end."


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Two: New path

Unknown lands

All things considered given all that had recently happened, he was no less unnerved by crossing a village of death like a thief with but one companion who peeked around each corner they came across as if there was some hidden enemy.

Thankfully there wasn't one within the entirety of the village proper... yet it wasn't without a measure of warrant.

Amongst the elegant mason work that made up each building, including the apparent temple they had originally skulked out of, withered bodies of the dead littered the streets and some of the alleyways; every now and then they would see a claw mark marring the stonework, the scorched remains of a blast staining once pristine marble-like stone, and arrows jutting out of the walls and ground. Most of the dead were armored, like they were soldiers, with strange canisters equipped on their backs that were either left intact or seemingly torn off of their subsequently rent armor. A few others seemingly affiliated with them were clothed from head-to-toe with carefully crafted suits as if to separated themselves from the world entirely, even the ports for their eyes were seemingly given goggles made purely of glass fastened from the inside; like their armored kin they bore similar fates. But what caught his eye the most, aside from their apparel, was that from what he could see of their skin. Exposed from the tearing of those canisters on their backs, they had blue skin from what he could see.

... They weren't the only ones amongst the dead however. Dying more vicious deaths, or at least far more explainable ones, along the outskirts that was the front of the village were decaying corpses of slain villagers that the carrion birds were picking clean of their blackened flesh. Whether or not it was blackened from rot or was their natural color, a black more genuine in color than any dark skinned person he knew of, he wasn't able to tell. What he was able to tell however was that many tried to run before they were ran through or shot down with arrows... a few appeared to have been set on fire, bludgeoned or else impaled with weaponry used with such force that they had to be abandoned when stuck to the ground or something else; they were the same weapons found in the loosened grasp of the fallen soldiers.

In the end though they essentially snuck out of the village without incident and escaped into the wilderness. Yet even then, even as they went deeper and deeper into the forest, neither deigned to speak. At least not until they, being led by the diminutive creature, came upon a cave hidden in the shade of a thicker set of trees dotting the area of a small hill. "Do be careful Master. I'm not sure how tall the ceiling is exactly between the darkness and our general heights, so you may have to duck," the creature said at last as he waddled into the cave, immediately descending down an unseen slope. Hesitantly Naruto followed him inside, finding him only by way of the lantern hanging above the creature's shoulder. Carefully he began to creep his way through the darkness as the already scant light of day quickly faded away into nothingness, his body hunched ever slightly in the event the ceiling was indeed low or else a stalactite that may scrape his head—" _Ooof!_ "—or else smack him in the face.

"I did warn you!" the grayed creature chided.

Grumbling, Naruto rounded around the hanging and followed after the lantern.

XVX

"Oh good. I was actually a bit worried we may have lost this as well! Of course we would've found somewhere else to call lair, sweet lair but frankly I'm grateful that _something_ went our way for a change, keeping you in mind of course Sire."

Thankfully save for the odd stalactite every now and then, all of which unwittingly avoided by the creature before him due to his height, they had made it to a large cavern poorly lit by torchlight and crudely made braziers strewn about the floor and various rises. In it was a gaggle of brown creatures like the ones who had abducted him before, albeit worse off in their armaments than the motley crew than before in that they were armed with nothing more than clubs and loincloths. The only one that was peculiarly dressed was yet another grayed creature wearing a funny hat that sported many tail-like ends, each garnished with a bell. In his hand was a cane-like object adorned with a small skull made of bone and a few other bones just beneath it. What also made him stand out more from the others was the peculiar blue eye in one socket. Squinting at it, it seemed it was made of glass, a prosthetic to replace a missing eye. Regardless, almost as soon as he had seen them they had likewise spotted him. More attention was drawn to himself as the gray before him started to bark orders at them.

"Someone fetch me our stock of potions! You louts, make sure there's a room available for the young master! Make it as private as possible! Giblet! Giblet! Blast that no good shoe chewer, where is he?" he grumbled as he wandered off in the direction of the back of the cavern where a good number of shacks were constructed.

From within a pile of looted oversized armor and weaponry one of the brown creature stuck its head out, displacing a few articles of armor and sending them clattering to the ground. "Oh good, you're already halfway there," Gnarl stated almost languidly before snapping his full ire on him. "Heat up that forge and kick that useless apprentice of yours into gear! We need some armor for the new master! At the very least have a crown and a gauntlet prepared for him! A bracelet if nothing else!"

With an audible giggle the creature ducked back inside the pile and reemerged with a welding mask equipped with a pair of built in goggles. Soon enough it scrambled out of the pile, taking with it a breastplate, and disappeared behind the pile.

"He tall!"

"New mastah?"

"Yay! Yay!"

"Oh ho! So we at last have a new Overlord! Welcome sire to our... current abode! Though we would've preferred to have received you in at least a decrepit castle or more preferably a tower but alas, we minions had fallen into hard times!" Naruto's attention jerked to the one in the weird hat who seemingly crept up on him without the blond realizing he had even moved. In fact he was surrounded by a number of the creatures who came to gawk and scrutinize him. Immediately he began to shift and squirm as he tried to back away as discreetly as he could. Unfortunately even he knew that was impossible given his situation, with so many eyes on him. Thankfully however the gray one with the cloak and lantern came back with a brown compatriot in tow, pushing a heavy crate from which its contents gave out a clink of glass each time the crate was disturbed in its transit. With a grumble the gray began to push and shove his way through the crowd.

"Make way! Make way you half-brained gnats!" the gray 'minion' barked as he forcibly made a clear path to the blond even as the others began to part before him and the crate that followed. Soon enough he came to stand before the blond and, as soon as the crate as no longer being pushed, turned around to rummage through the crate. With a contemplative hum he pulled out a small flask, a closed beaker really, filled nearly to the brim with a dark green liquid. He half turned to the side, undid the stopper on the bottle, held out his hand and carefully tilted the glass so as to drop a single droplet of the green fluid onto his hand. The second a droplet fell he held the flask upright as he intently watched the liquid splatter on his hand, observing it as if it were to do something for many a heartbeat. "Good. It's not acidic."

"I made that and those you know," the one in the hat grumbled. "After all this time you'd think I would make one for myself or the master that would be harmful?"

Promptly ignoring him, the grayed creature turned to the blond and offered him the flask. "Here Master," it offered, "this should help you recover from those nasty third degree burns."

Hesitantly Naruto took it with one hand and, after giving the crowd a sweeping glance at the crowd gathered around him, drank from it with a swift chug whilst expecting the worst of flavors to afflict him.

He was not disappointed.

The mere taste alone almost had him lurch completely forward to form a ball but he swallowed it anyway like bitter medicine he had to sample on rare occasions... oh how he wished it was bitter even as it slid down his throat with grateful ease; it was like drinking moldy moss laced with rancid socks, peppered with bad fish left out in the sun for far too long. The aftertaste of dung sprinkled with burning charcoal only made it worse, giving him a green hue despite his pale countenance.

"In my defense sire I don't think it would've help you any if I had warned you about that in advance. If it's any consolation however it's Quaver's fault since he makes the potions."

"Hey!" The other minions snickered at the puffing up of the indignant 'minion.' Yet he was completely ignored y the older one in the cloak. "It's not like you can do better!"

"Now be off with you, all of you! I'm sure the master could use some rest given the night he had," the gray one barked as he began to shoo and shove the more stubborn various counterparts away to widen the path for Naruto. "Besides, nothing prepares one better for a wholesome _evil_ education than a goodnight's rest."

"Hey!" Jerking toward him, everyone's attention snapped to a disquieted Naruto who did everything he could to keep from flinching by glaring down at the curious grayed creature with slightly grit teeth. "You said you would explain to me what was going on!"

"And I will!" the so called 'minion' assured him once more in a placating tone. "But if I may, master, I think that before I cram into your head as to what you are, who we are and everything else, I think it would be best if you had time to digest what had happened thus far. Unwind a bit even— seldom as it had happened, stress has had gotten the better of your predecessors, especially when they didn't rest for a spell time from time."

The blond squinted at him and glanced to the creature's like him. He would've even tried to glance back to the exit behind him but didn't: Even assuming they had an axe to grind, so to speak, he was in an unknown territory possibly populated by different people altogether. Even if he was in just some part of the Elemental Nations that he simply either didn't learn of or simply ignored during his time in class, the Anbu back in his village made it clear enough that they weren't keen on letting him live since he stole the Forbidden Scroll... Reluctantly he began to step through the crowd, following the creature as it turned around and dutifully lead him to the back of the cave where the huts are.

"For what it's worth I apologize, sire. Some years ago we would've had at least a nice comfy bed to offer you," the minion noted as they ventured into the ramshackle collections of wood and bits of metal occasionally holding them together. "But alas, we've been kicked out of one place after another ever since the last substitute of a master died after this whole mess died. We're just lucky enough to scrounge up what could be considered luxuries amongst beggars for you now." Amongst the twists and turns of what now looked more liken to a misshapen city of shacks and huts they came upon the largest shack they evidently had available. What made stand out even more was that there were more of the brown creatures surrounding it, guarding it with a motley collection of nicked swords, scrounged up maces and woodcutter axes. They were also garbed in leather jerkins, chainmail and even plate armor looking to have been collected straight from a forgotten battlefield somewhere for armor. Upon seeing him they snapped into attention and saluted him as they passed the doorway into the hut without so much as a second glance from the gray one.

Spacious as it was and surprisingly shored up to ensure it didn't collapse onto itself, the shack didn't have much to it other than a makeshift fire pit in the center of the room, a stool right next to it and mattress laid out onto the ground against the back wall; covered with a ratty blanket, what looked to be straw stuck out of the mattress here and there where the blanket didn't cover it.

"Hard times indeed," Naruto noted.

XVX

Forest, Konoha

"Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen Sarutobi, an elderly man in red and white robes, wearing a broad shaped white hat with a red diamond bearing the symbol for "Fire" within it regarded the kneeling shinobi wearing a wooden mask of a badger. "Report."

The shinobi's already bowed head canted further. "Sir, we were not able to find either the intruder or Naruto Uzumaki. But new evidence has emerged: Whatever it was, it wasn't alone. Judging from cadavers left behind in an apparent struggle with yet another unknown group it appears that this being was accompanied by both men and women from across the sea, from where we are not certain as of yet. Likewise this other group, much like the original assailant of our tracker teams in search of the holder of the Nine Tails, had disappeared without a trace. But from what we gathered they had been here for some time in a previously undiscovered, manmade cavern system..."

The Third Hokage narrowed his eyes in scrutiny. "What else?"

The operative looked up only slightly to regard the Hokage as if debating on whether or not to tell him or else how phrase his wording before bowing his head once again. "My lord, with due respect the term "manmade" might be a misnomer of sorts. While we have not found any sign of the previous hosts, some of the rooms are incredibly small that even toddlers would need to duck their heads to enter. Furthermore on closer inspection on what appears to be some of the older rooms as well as an expansion in the process of being built, the almost the entirety of the cave system appears to be have dug out by claw. What's more, it seems that sometime during the skirmish Naruto Uzumaki had entered this system. Like the others he too is mysteriously missing; there is no evidence any of them left the cave system by conventional means or otherwise."

"I see..." Quietly, solemnly, he withdrew a smoking pipe from within his robes and a box of tobacco. With almost meticulous ease he filled the pipe, crushed the tobacco within it and replaced the box with a match. Yet he hesitated to light it. "... I don't suppose by some luck Naruto had left the scroll behind, did he?"

"No sir..."

"I see." He struck the match and lit the smoke pipe. He flicked his wrist and extinguished the match before taking a solemn drag from the pipe. "What was that boy thinking, taking breaking in and taking the scroll?"

"I do not know sir. Perhaps it has something to do with his latest failure to pass the exam?"

Hiruzen hummed rather dully in acknowledgement...

"Send for Jiraiya," he suddenly ordered. The Anbu, in response, snapped his head up with an unasked question. "Even if there is absolutely no chance in recovering either Naruto or the scroll, infiltrating the village to this extent alone is by no means a random and fortune favored act. This is especially true when there is quite literally a wall to cordon off the village from would be intruders on foot; either there are collaborators in our midst to coordinate their mission, or worse yet they have a means to slip past our defenses without our knowing, a method most likely unique to them. If by some means Jiraiya can identify these strangers then perhaps we can decipher their purpose in being here..." He took another drag and let loose a dense puff of smoke. "Let's hope that if they had done what they came to do then we can either recover or mitigate the damage done before it's recognized by the other villages."

"Yes Lord Hokage. We'll form a team and set out to find Lord Jiraiya immediately." The shinobi disappeared without missing a beat, leaving the older man of whitening hair as he continued to puff from his pipe. For several minutes he simply stood within the forest, smoking all the while...

XVX

Cavern, Unknown Lands, the next day (night?)

He didn't know how long he had slept, only that when he at last woke up he was soon presented with a veritable feast of sautéed chicken with mushrooms, small loaves of bread, some sort of dipping sauce, soup and just about anything else that could be scrounged up courtesy of the one in the odd hat. That and as he ate the one in the cloak and the strange crystal tied to a stick had what looked to have been a scavenged blackboard carefully laid against one of the walls by a set of minions that, when finished, went to the blond as if it were an expected but not minded duty. Regardless, as he finishing his breakfast and supped on a goblet of water, the apparently older gray was scribbling onto the board with a piece of white chalk. From what he could see from his bed it looked like the 'minion' had forgone any use of words and simply drawn simple yet crude images scribbled in half-minded haste. On occasion however he did take a minute to look at an image and with a grumble wipe it off only to etch a somewhat altered version of the image. When he was done he simply turned around, waiting for Naruto to finish and come to him if the blond had to guess. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he obliged him by handing his plates and spent drink to the first brown he spotted who happily enough ran off with them, giggling like a loon for a short while.

Once he got up and approached the grayed creature and his blackboard, Naruto's curious glance quickly spotted out a vague depiction of the Elemental Nations scrawled on the surface. Along with it were what looked to be other continents and even some islands, all of which, including the Elemental Nations, were contained in the drawing of a white box to border it from the rest of the images that were drawn on the blackboard.

"Granted it's late to say this but allow me the honor to say "Welcome Sire to your new lair!" the gray announced once Naruto was close enough to avoid shouting at him. "I am Gnarl, Minion Master and humble servant to both you and the long line of predecessors you hail from, the Overlords."

"Overlords?" Naruto asked, Gnarl nodding in recognition.

"Yes, the Overlords, the often waxing and waning masters of the realms belonging to the continent of Hapvire which is right about..." The creature turned around and looked to the map he had drawn. Soon enough he slapped his gnarled digit along one of the continents near the edge, announcing "here!" as he does so. "Sadly though it's not much to look at now, what with it being a smoldering, burning hellfire thanks to those cultists!"

"Uh... was that thing that attacked me one of them?" Naruto asked in an uneasy guess.

"Yes, yes he was. Quite intuitive you are young master!" Gnarl chuckled as he waddled to face him once more. As he did so though his short lived good humor was lost to a severe frown. "Though really that 'thing' is in actuality one of their masters. A brutish one with a penchant for hunting down Overlords and those liken to them like the demonic bloodhound it is." The minion shuddered, audibly shivering as he does so. "He almost makes them preferable really. At least those mangy, flea bitten curs are courteous enough to ignore you if you toss them a juicy hambone or something." He shook his head. "But anyway..." He cleared his throat.

"Since the very first Overlord who had made us to the last, Overlords had often conquered and re-conquered the realms of Hapvire, beating those who would either try to kill or else subdue them into a bloody pulp, subsequently ruling their lands with an iron fist afterward if they so wanted." Gnarl then smirked a lopsided smirk. "The only time those so called "heroes" had ever gained them back was either when an Overlord died from something completely unrelated to these heroes, thus having no opposition, or," he lost his smirk, "though it was a bit rare in comparison, they teamed up and killed the Overlord at the time and took back their lands only to make themselves hypocrites instead."

"Huh? Wait... are the Overlords evil?" Naruto asked with a confused frown. In turn Gnarl gave out a dramatic sigh as the minions around them giggled.

"Master, please understand. Admittedly we minions do enjoy a good pillaging, maiming and ruining of things as well as anything else our current master bids of us, including literally sacrificing ourselves for their benefit if they so desire, we are but willing and eager servants and tools for our master. Even then "evil" can be quite relative, don't you think?" Naruto frowned as he tilted, again eliciting yet another dramatic sigh. "Say you, our new master, had ordered us to save a village of half-witted peasants who probably set their very own village on fire like the idiots they are, and they in turn worship you and give you tribute as opposed to whichever lord is _suppose_ to be keeping them safe, and said lord comes to resent you for this in turn, does that make you evil?"

"No," Naruto answered him, though a bit cautiously.

"Again for saving those dim peasants and accepting their tribute to you and that lord whose tribute you took declares war on you, does that make you evil, sire?"

"No."

Nodding Gnarl continued. "And say you decide to lead us against this lord for not only your sake but the peasants as well. Let us say you had defeated him and spared him, but he in turn runs off to cry on the shoulder of a lord on friendly terms with him about a "ruthless invader" who not only defeated him but "seized his land" and "threatened his life", thus beginning yet another fight for you, does that, again, make you evil?"

"No!"

Gnarl nodded sagely. "Of course we could simply kill this imaginary lord if you so willed it, all for the sake of peace for you. But needless to say I think we both know where I'm getting with this, don't you?"

Reluctantly Naruto nodded.

"My point, master, is that while we had our share of masters who eagerly ordered us to serve their self-serving agendas, not all Overlords are ruthless killers and takers of domain and treasures. Some of them simply wanted to protect their family, friends, vassals, and beliefs to name a few. Even then, ironic as it is, even our most blood thirsty of masters ended up doing more good than the supposed "good guys." Oh the things I could tell you these "heroes" did to their subjects and their neighbors... my particular favorites were the seven heroes the father of our last true Overlord had to slay! Oh how I remember they eagerly abandoned their one of their almost dead comrades in a crumbling tower the second they killed the Overlord!" Gnarl dementedly giggled as he slightly turned away. Likewise a number of the minions also began to chortle and cackle as if they knew exactly what he was talking about. "Only that bleeding heart of an elf wanted to help but even he turned his back on what would be his own instrument of demise when the others thought it would be too much of a bother to bring back what they thought was a corpse. Didn't even realize he was still alive! Alive yet severely weakened thanks the final duel with our previous master! And yet the idea of glory and wenches was enough to have the band of seven heroes abandon who would later be the instrument of their demise, made a substitute by order of the Overlord he killed no less!" Smirking, Gnarl turned to Naruto who was scowling at the actions of the so called heroes. "Though a substitute, I admit he was one of my more favorite masters to serve."

He sighed once more. "He also serves as something of an example toward "lighter" Overlords if you will, sire. He wasn't much for proper evil admittedly, then again he was a hero before his ascension as the Overlord. He was simply content with raiding the villages of his enemies and smiting those so called heroes when they ironically became the very evils that plagued their lands years later, taking whatever they wanted and slaughtering innocents simply because they didn't like them. Incidentally the lands they hailed from became his domain since there simply wasn't anyone else around to boss those weak minded peasants around."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. "Uh..."

"Yes Master?"

"Just uh..." Naruto scratched his head. "What's the difference between a "true" overlord and a substitute?"

"Quite simply, sire, True Overlords are related by blood to the very first Overlord, our maker. As such they have a far more natural command over minions than others. A substitute is made so either by order of the previous Overlord for varying reasons: For example to act as a decoy so our previous master could recover their strength and eventually supplant their replacement, as weird as that sounds. But in more dire situations, taking this once hero of an Overlord for example..." He turned around and walked to the board. Once he reached it he held up a finger and pointed at one of several tri-horned helmets, most of which connected by a line. More specifically he pointed at one helmet that was being bypassed by a line in a semi-circle to connect two others. "Hiccups can occur where the previous overlord has been slain without naming an heir of sorts or that his biological successor isn't found. When that happens we make use of someone deemed to be "qualified" to lead us for a spell. Believe me, it's much harder than it sounds. Even our more crass masters couldn't simply pick a random peasant, give him a helmet and proclaim him to be an overlord..." Sighing, he tapped the unconnected helmet. "Thank the gods and evil that some of our masters just couldn't keep it in their pants. I'll admit though," he dragged his clawed digit down to the next helmet which was connected to the line, "I wouldn't have suspected that the Wizard was one of who knows how many bastards of the line of Overlords. I certainly wouldn't have expected his own spawn would be the mother to the last true Overlord either. Things like these certainly keeps things interesting now and then," he drawled as he was seemingly progressing onto a tangent train of thought.

"... Exactly what happened to... my predecessor?" When the minion didn't answer, he spoke up once again. "Gnarl?"

"Hm? What?" He was jolted out of his cogitation and returned his attention to the twelve year old boy who was frowning at him.

"What happened to the last overlord?"

"Oh yes..." He cleared his throat and turned around. "This is actually how you been involved really." Once again he jabbed his finger at the continent of Hapvire. "You see, during your predecessor's reign this cult quite literally shows up out of nowhere. At first we thought it was your run-of-the-mill "praise whatsit!" or "the word of our god!" sort of deal, raiding and razing villages, sacrificing peasants and slaves, building temples, the usual sort of thing. But unfortunately for them they not only encroached on our master's territory but they were raiding and razing _OUR_ villages and killing off _OUR_ peasants! If they were going to be killed off for sport or for some bloody ritual then we're the ones who are going to do it!" He immediately jerked his head back to give Naruto a cheesy grin, "only by order of the current master of course. Anyway!" He zipped his head back and tapped the nail of his claw against the board as if he were accusing it. "So to show these little ignorant rats of whose domain they were defiling, our master went in himself to bring them to heel..." He began to slowly tapped the board once more in meticulous thought. "Things only went downhill from there I'm afraid."

"We never did get a name out of them. Then again we didn't exactly stop hacking them to pieces to ask for names either. But whoever these cultists were... they were using the peasants as fuel to summon demons, and not the regular sort either. These weren't some rich nobles from other realms who got bored with _conventional_ luxuries and turned to summoning and black magic to spice things up. These weren't even the regular sort of demons who came, wrecked havoc at their leisure and left when they got bored either. No, these demons came with an objective in mind: To corrupt and destroy the world! And they weren't taking too kindly to our efforts to stop them either! After losing some of their territory they began to hold the line. Worse yet they began to push back! Back all the way into our own domain where they began to take it for themselves! Before we knew it we were being overrun with demons who were only getting stronger and stronger as time passed by! Things were getting so bad that we had to resort to making alliances with dwarves, halflings, trolls, anything that had half a brain to pick up a weapon and fight... and worse of all, _ELVES!_ " The minion shuddered. "The Empire was bad enough as it was! At least we got something out of it that time and practically killed two birds with one stone. But Never have we been in a situation so _horrible_ that we had to work with those tree-hugging, lute playing, peace loving, caterwauling louts!" He drew his finger away from the board as if it were acid as he began to horribly shudder, slap at imaginary bugs and rubbed his arms in between. "Oh merely being _reminded_ of it just puts me in a twist! I would rather be dipped in hot oil, stabbed with red hot iron swords and be hanged while being shot at by barbed arrows laced with acidic poison than be put through that again!" When the other minions began to cackle at his plight he turned and snapped a glare at them. Unfortunately for him his glare didn't curb their laughter one bit. Not even punching a nearby minion in the face work per se, yet it did divert their ridicule toward their unconscious comrade.

"At any rate that desperate alliance as a whole was a failure," Gnarl dourly muttered as he turned around to eye the map once more. "There were simply too many, and even their craven little lackeys that started this whole mess were wielding strange magic that helped overpower the toughest of our defenses and meanest of assaults. In the end the alliance employed a desperate gambit in hopes of stemming the tide of battle." He snorted. "It was almost as terrible as allying ourselves with elves really— they planned to make their own abyss gates and unleash the wrath and evil within the abyss on their enemies. With that in mind and knowing this could easily destroy them as much as these demons could, they began to pack up and ship off just about everything of relative importance that wasn't nailed down to the floor: Scrolls, books, weapons, relics, peasants, even the pregnant mistresses of our previous master and our minion hives too!" Gnarl hung his head, sighed and shook it. "Unfortunately the master sent us off as well to safeguard his mistresses, to help raise a new overlord and hopefully reclaim what was lost should they fail. And in a way they did, if one counts the opening of the gates that is..." He solemnly looked up and gently caressed the continent he was pointing at thus far. "While I'm not sure what exactly had happened but it would seem the sheer force necessary to open the gates had also turned the _entire continent_ into a hellfire that burned for years! _Years!_ But for what it's worth that cataclysm was enough to stop the invasion."

"Yet unfortunately it wasn't until years later when we were finally setting in that we learned that, like us, those cultists and demons weren't entirely dead. They were displaced just like us..." His hand drifted over to a set of continents closer to the Elemental Nations. "Like before, things were hell from there as they battered us with everything they had. They infiltrated countries and turned entire kingdoms against us. In the end we minions end up scattering in yet another retreat, losing one tribe after another and both the master's mistresses and offspring too." His hand began to move up and down the map in random direction. "It took me years to track any of them down with the dwindling resources we had, and thus far my search had led me to you, young master..."

"Of course now you're here, master!" He turned around and faced the child once more. "Granted far sooner than I expected... I personally even thought I would've have to wait for your own descendants, but that doesn't matter. But alas that can't be helped: I have no idea as to _how_ they found you, though I may have an idea or two, but they know your face now! It's time for you to rise up and claim your heritage master! Remind them what is means to trifle with an overlord! Revive the legacy of your ancestors and show those cretins what _true_ power is!"

Roused, the minions around Naruto began to excitedly cheer at the prospect of being led again. At the carnage they would reap and the battles to be fought.

"Of course," Gnarl pointedly interrupted, holding up a hand to silence the minions, "if you want you could name a stand-in like some of your predecessors. After all, why risk yourself when any fool could have their face hidden away by a helmet or a mask. You could stay here, rest yourself in the safety of your lair, surrounded by an army of your loyal minions as someone else waltzes about in your name as you read and reread that scroll you brought with you..." He began to saunter past Naruto and the minions that encircled the two so as to take a better look at the large scroll Naruto had so dearly clung to himself the day before, now lying against the side of the shack near the bed. "I suppose you could even go back to your village if you wanted sire. We would do our best to protect you after all but... if you pardon me saying so, sire, but from what I know of you before this awfulness happened, you weren't exactly well off. And that is one expensive looking scroll!" He brought his clawed hand up to his mouth and began to rub his chin, covering his mouth all the while as an evil grin began to form. "I certainly hope no one thinks ill of you for having something so out of place in your possession. Otherwise you may as well have more to worry about than otherworldly demons and their sycophantic pets..."

Cautiously he glanced over his shoulder as subtly as he could, his hand still in place under the pretense of still rubbing his chin, and with a devilish grin he spied on Naruto as he, with a faraway look on his face, began to rub a torn spot in his jumpsuit along his shoulder. On another note it seemed that the regenerative potion had done its job marvelously as the blonde's skin returned to a healthy tan rather than stay a sickening white.

"I... might... give this a... shot," Naruto hesitantly answer.

"Ah ha! Good! We'll begin as soon as your dressed and ready!" The minions began to cheer once more in even greater jubilation. Some of them even began to jump in joy. "Come, come! We'll get you fitted right away, Master..." Gnarl said as he practically dashed to the door, preceded only by the excited minions before him before he stopped and turned around to place a curious stare on the boy. "I'm sorry but now that I think about it, I don't believe I caught your name."

Naruto hesitated before looking up from the hole in his suit, his finger drawing away from it. "... It's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Gnarl in response gave a contemplate hum. "Naruto... Naruto... Certainly a good name," he muttered before slipping past the door.

Hesitating once more, Naruto eventually followed them out the door. The moment he crossed the threshold he beheld a mass gathering of brown skinned minions and red skinned minions who looked more demonic than their counterparts with ram horns growing from their heads and spindly tails growing from the end of their backs, all of whom occupying the once open space before his own shack as well as the rooftops and other architecture of the buildings that surrounded it.

"Behold! Our new Overlord! Naruto!"

"YAY!" The minions were already in a frenzy.

"WOO!" A grand many of the minions began to jump up and down, including the ones on the now swaying, rickety buildings.

"OVERLORD! OVERLORD! OVERLORD!" they chorused even as some of the shacks and towers began to topple or crumble onto themselves and some of the minions as well. Yet even as some of their friends were being buried in wood, steel and some amount of stone they didn't stop cheering Naruto. If anything only a few stopped to laugh at the predicament of their kin as they emerged a little worse for wear or else dug themselves out. In the meantime Gnarl groaned as he palmed his face, his eyes squinted shut.

"Welcome to your new life, master."

 **A/N: you know I was going to say something but, meh, I don't feel like it right now.** **So here's another post!**

 **Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Three: A life of training and... adventure

Liar, unknown lands

If there was one distinct advantage to accidentally destroying the homes of fellow minions as well as architecture built for no discernible reason then it was using the scrap they all left behind. In this particular case said scrap was being assembled and fashioned into crude dummies under Gnarl's supervision for later use. As of right now however he was being fitted in new garb with the aid of the one in the weird hat, Quaver.

"And there! It's not much, but you're far more intimidation than you once were, sire!"

His orange jumpsuit, goggles and undershirt had been replaced with clothes of cloth and leather for the sake of mobility. In their place were darkened leather trousers, a matching jerkin over a blue long sleeved shirt with heavily stitched yet discrete sidings to hideaway excess cloth for the time being, gloves to match the previous leather items, and metal bracer of tarnished metal adorned with a glowing gem in the middle. Last but not least was a crown-like helmet made of steel, bearing three small horns, that was placed upon his head. All of it was in some way scavenged and repurposed just for him, only a few didn't need any form of alteration just to fit him. Aside from that the only thing that remained of his old garb were his shinobi-style sandals, which Quaver had insisted on painting it black so they wouldn't stand out. Aside from his sandals there was only one other item in his current wardrobe that was his choice: a faded orange scarf they had managed to scrounge up that was now wrapped around his face, covering everything beneath the bridge of his nose; changing his clothes was one thing, he wasn't keen on doing _anything_ without at least a smidgeon of orange to his person. Quaver, being the chief stylist, rather the _only_ one since the other minions were content with bringing Naruto anything they thought he could use including arms and armor much too unwieldy for him, was not particularly thrilled about that...

"And now to the forge! Hopefully Giblet had crafted a weapon worthy of you by now in the forge by now. Please, follow me!"

From his personal shack Naruto followed Quaver out into the 'streets' of the minions' shanty town. Already a protective guard of ten "browns" as they were called formed around Naruto, each armed and armored with the mightiest of weapons and the best of armor they could fit upon themselves even if they were a little wanting. Regardless, only a few minions they passed waved at him or openly greeted him as he passed them as they scurried about to do their own duties. As they did so he couldn't help but notice how different they were from Quaver between the tone of their skin and their choice of armament, or lack thereof. But really what he was looking for was the thing he couldn't quite wrap his head around— the hat... From what he understood and observed thus far, minions were almost like happy –go-lucky dogs who didn't care much for advance thought in favor of bringing anything or doing anything he desired of them with little care for the details. In fact they didn't seem to have much in the way of thought beyond what was needed at the very moment. That's where Gnarl and Quaver stood out, at least in part: Rather than go out and do things themselves they had ordered others to do it, or at least Gnarl did without much dispute whereas Quaver had to struggle to have one of them even listen to him. Not only that but they distinctively dressed themselves differently than the other minions in that their choice of attire was not necessarily battle ready, nor meant for work per se.

"Hey, Quaver."

"Yes sire?" The minion wasted no time in stopping and turning to him, giving him his full attention. When he did so, Naruto shifted a tad uncomfortably as he considered how he wanted to ask him.

"I kind of get Gnarl dressing differently than the other minions because he's some sort of boss over them, but what are you suppose to be?"

"Ah! forgive me sire for not properly introducing my position!" The minion took a step back and bowed to him, the bone covered stick in his hand rattling as if there were coins or rings on it. "I am your royal jester sire! It is my duty to delight you with entertainment!" He stood straight and made a dramatic pose by lifting one arm up as if holding something up, intently looking at the 'object' in his hand as he twisted himself away to offer the newly proclaimed overlord a side view, "to recount the tales of your great deeds! And..." He suddenly slumped as he grumbled out the last part. In his sudden depression a rock came out from the corner of Naruto's eye which smacked Quaver in the back of his head. The young overlord looked to the side to see a cackling gaggle of minions scurry off just in time for Quaver to turn around and yell at them. "IT'S A THANKLESS JOB YOU CRETINS!"

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked in concern as he turned to him. In response the jester turned to him with a crooked smile.

"Why yes, master! Don't worry! Browns do not have the fragility of the blues or reds! Not only that but, thankfully," he muttered the last part almost too lowly for Naruto to hear, "every minion possesses an astounding regenerative power when not fighting! We'll be up and fighting in just a matter of moments between battles if you are ever caught in a sudden war my lord!"

"Yeah!" one of the bodyguards cheered, followed shortly other grunts or short cries of excitment.

"Ok then..." Naruto frowned un underneath his scarf as he looked at the strained, still crooked grin on the minion's face. "... what exactly did you say before you were attacked?"

The grin became more strained for just as a moment before it broke altogether in a defeated frown. With a sigh he slumped once more into place.

"Simply, sire, if you ever have need to say... test a weapon sire, a spell, or just simply want to relieve a bit of... aggression... we jester are more than 'happy' enough to sate your desires when there is a lack of enemies." He perked up for just a moment. "Do not get me wrong though! We're more than willing to do it sire, and I myself have been on the lighter end of such things." He twitched slightly however. "Though to be honest, there have been some... stories if you will about the previous jesters. Can't say I really blame them though," he muttered lowly once more as he looked to the ground as if lost in his own little world.

Naruto was silent for a moment as he watched the minion blankly stare off into space... In all honesty he couldn't help but see himself in the minion's shoes: Ostracized, alone, the butt of contempt or ill mischief, all the while trying to do his job with a smile. While things were not perfect in Konoha for him, even the worse of his days there were simply passive aggressive in nature by comparison what Quaver and his own predecessors most likely had to go through...

"Hey," the minion jerked his head up upon being addressed, "for minions, an overlord's word is law for the most part, right?"

"Oh yes! Yes! We would follow your orders to our dying breath!" the minion stated in renewed exuberance as if his depressive episode hadn't happened. "If you order us to slay a dragon by leaping into its mouth with nothing more than bombs strapped to our backs, we shall do so! If you wish us to infiltrate an enemy stronghold while dressed as ladies of the night, we'll do it with smiles on our faces! If—"

"I get it! I get it!" Naruto interrupted in mid-blanch. A second later he shook his head to clear his mind of the last image. "Right then..." he coughed. He then pointed at the minion with as much authority he could muster at the moment, yet was still a tad hesitant nevertheless with uncertainty. "you are no longer a jester then!" he announced. "From now on you're my..." he hesitated for a second as the thought of the Third Hokage's secretary came to mind. "... secretary from now on!"

The minion merely blinked at him in stunned silence. "... A question, sire?"

Naruto bit back a gulp as he lowered his hand. "What?"

"What's a secretary?"

It was Naruto's turn to blandly stare at him and blink. "Uh... basically," he reached up and began to scratch the back of his head, "schedule appointments, remind me of stuff I might forget and... get me stuff?" he added as he desperately tried to remember everything she did for the old man.

"So... I'm no longer the jester?" he asked.

"No."

"No hat?"

"No hat... unless you want wear it." He kept scratching his head.

"No rattle?"

"No?"

"... Can I still pursue my love in all things culture?"

"Yes...?"

"I see." Quietly and without emotion the grayed minion took off the jester's hat and half wrapped it around the decorated stick as he held both out as if to examine them, searching them and reminiscing for just a brief moment. His apparent apathy however was lost as, with a shout, he lobbed both items at a nearby hapless minion who, being caught by surprise, toppled over with a sharp "Gah!" leaving him just as Quaver ran off. "I'M FREE!" he madly cackled. "I'M NO LONGER THE JESTER! GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO PICK ON YOU BRUTES!"

"Aw... Quaver not jester no more?"

"Who we beat up now?"

"Lookie, lookie!"

"For me!"

Naruto jerked his head down from the retreating, overexcited minion who was now doing cartwheels to another minion just as he put on the hat and picked up the rattle, utterly ignoring the other unconcious minion on the ground. "I guess that solves that..." Naruto unsurely muttered to himself. He took only a moment to scratch his head again before departing at long last, leaving the new jester alone as he shook the rattle for his own amusement.

XVX

"Ah, master, you're looking quite like an Overlord now! Are you ready to learn the finer points of minion control?" Gnarl asked as he turned around atop a large, recently erected platform just as Naruto climbed the last few step leading to it. "By the way, you wouldn't have by chance seen Quaver have you...?"

At this Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I think he's still celebrating his promotion to my secretary."

Gnarl blinked at him. Hard. Several times in fact as he processed what was said. "Come again?" he asked in a stupefied fashion.

"Ugh..." His hand slowly dropped to his side. "I made him my secretary... my aide if that makes more sense." Gnarl continued to blink at him, as if amazed, making Naruto all the more uncomfortable. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Huh? Uh, no. Nothing sire," Gnarl assured him as he shook his head. "Just it's been awhile since anyone other than myself gave a minion a new position... In fact I can't recall the last time anyone other than myself had done something like that." He began to rub his chin in thought. "Well I suppose those menservants for the mistresses count," he soon grumbled to himself as he turned around to overlook the impromptu arena below. "Ah well, as long as Quaver doesn't get too big of a head from this then I suppose I won't have shove him down the first pit I find. Who knows, I might even catch up with some of my stories now."

As he mumbled to himself, Naruto walked up to Gnarl and stood beside him as he looked at a cleared out, rough floor space decorated with multiple dummies and piles of debris that just couldn't be cobbled into a dummy. In some spaces it looked like a minute, individual labyrinth of rickety fences had been erected and 'fortified' with a grand number of scavenged crates and barrels which sandwiched them between themselves. Within these mazes were flags atop of barrels as well. To his side he noticed there was a rather large ramp to the side connecting the platform to the ground before... It did not look sturdy however.

"Right then, where was I?" he muttered before perking up. "Oh yes! Minion training!" He cleared his throat as he turned to Naruto once more. "Since in essence you had learned how to order minions with a wave of the hand, we'll skip over that part. Keep in mind though that general intent, or lack thereof, can define what a minion will do when ordered to rush out before you: Like that boulder that was blocking the tunnel the other night; any obstacle before you will eagerly be moved on your behalf, with or without your direction! Moving objects out of the way, claiming them for yourself, or in the case of an enemy, give them a good smiting! Or even an ally if you wish, but that requires a bit of focus—as inept as minions can be on what isn't inherently obvious, even we're not so black hearted as to savage an ally on sight. Undoubtedly it creates quite a bit of bad blood for everyone involved. We don't need to be at arms with one another after all... At least not yet!" he giggled a tad manically, earning a derisive shake of the young overlord's head as well as a roll of his eyes.

"At any rate let's begin! Hold out your arm with a sweep command in mind milord! Form a path within your mind master and they will follow it! Be sure to try to keep your focus as you have your minions bash those dummies down there, if you let up then they will think that is the end of your current 'command' and will run back to you."

Doing as he said, Naruto held out his uplifted arm as he conjured the image of the minions' route down the ramp to the first barrel of a group of four in an open area of the arena below. Like a bolt of lightning they responded in a flash, rushing past him in a hurry down the ramp to the stone floor below. In seconds flat they were on the first dummy, stabbing it, clubbing it, just tearing it apart in even less time than it took to reach it. There were barely any pieces of it left as it scattered to the ground before they scrambled to the next target with a demented set of giggles. Before long all the dummies were demolished and from their remains the minions scavenged bits of armor for themselves, improvements over their previous equipment.

"Ah, that reminds me. When they find useful, or useless," he grumbled before resuming, "items they automatically equip themselves with it. Don't worry, we won't be giving you any old steal-me-downs if we can help it. It's bad enough as it is already. Now! Call your minions back! Just concentrate. It only takes a brief thought."

Acting on his advice Naruto barely did anything more than think "come" when a minion abandoned its still searching comrades to dash back to him. "Now master, a longer thought master to call them _all_ back." Like before he thought of it in a more commanding 'tone' within his mind only to be briefly startled by the deep droning emitting from the gem, moaning like a horn of the deep. Hearing the sound, the rest of his entourage returned to him without fail, utterly abandoning their work without a second thought or a moment's hesitation.

"Good, good. You're catching on quite nicely." He turned to the browns. "Now off with you, you wretch lumps! It's the reds' turn now!"

"Aw!"

"We want to bash more!"

"Off with you!" Gnarl barked. Reluctantly they did as they were told, some literally dragging their feet as they somberly sauntered away. They were barely a meter away when they were replaced by their red skinned counterparts with the horns.

"As you may have guessed sire, browns are your fighters. In fact once they get started it gets a little difficult to stop them without having to plant a plate boot in their face. And as you can see their dedication to the fight allows them to use just about anything they can get their grubby little hands on in a fight. But the Reds..." One of them waved at him. "Reds on the other hand aren't quite as hardy. In fact it's highly recommended you keep them at the back of any fight if possible, such is their fragility. But what they lack in hardiness, they make up in firepower! Quite literally" he giggled before turning his attention to a walkway separate from the platform they stood on. "Now for something a little more advanced."

"Like before sire, sweep your minions to that end. Once there, imagine a marker or something for them to station themselves at. A guard marker if you will."

Looking out to at least survey his surroundings he easily found that there wasn't anything standing in the way between his reds and the platform. In fact they simply would've had to travel down the stairs they came from and scurry over to the ramp giving access to the other platform which was surrounded by irregular placed dummies. He could even jump the distance if he wished, but he may as well humor Gnarl with what he was expecting. Like the browns, the reds soon rushed to their destination and rallied around an imaginary banner bearing the overlord's tri-horned helmet on a field of orange. Immediately without orders they drew their arms back and began to hurl balls of fire at the dummies. Soon enough a fair number of the dummies began to catch fire, eliciting a dark chortle. "Oh it never gets old seeing reds get to work. Oh how the screams of that which is ablaze just warms my black heart so."

Again Naruto shook his head, rolling his eyes once more. Yet rather than come to a natural stop in his exasperation he stopped when he noticed the sudden scurrying of the minions, both red and brown, rushing toward the dummies, the ones on fire, with what appeared to be marshmallows on sticks.

"What are they... oh those clever little devils. I really should have thought of that... Right, if you would excuse me sire, I have a marshmallow with my name on it!"

"Uh... get me one too!"

"Yes master!"

Though he didn't move fast when compared to the other minions he still took off like a shot down the stairs to what he assumed was the nearest stash of marshmallows given the steady stream of minions that were coming from it, from behind a small row of shacks with chimneys sprouting from them. Regardless, having nothing better to do at the moment Naruto decided to watch his reds as they continued to lay waste to the dummies till the only ones left were the ones out of their range. On a hunch Naruto focused on the banner, held up his hand up and willed it to move. Sensing his command, a red picked up the flag and began to run to the other end of the walkway with the others following it, the entire group was moving in an almost perfect circle to their predetermined destination. Once they came to a halt they resumed their assault on the training dummies below.

XVX

Hours later

Directional control of objects in motion courtesy of the minions, in this case barrels, individually commanding the separate tribes of minions when having a mixed horde, mock battles, weapons training, even a little bit of overlord relevant history, they did everything Gnarl could think of with what they had on hand. Eventually they had exhausted all of their options and thoughts, thus bringing them to the "war room" as Gnarl had called it... really it was Naruto's shack. The only difference was that a large table low enough for the minion to peer down at it had been dragged into the room, on it a large map scrawled in an intelligible language, to Naruto at least, sat on the middle of the table. Gnarl himself was situated atop a stool with a croupier's stick in his clutches whereas Naruto was looking at the simple wooden blocks, cylinders, a rock and a coin that had been settled atop the map.

"As I've told you before we have been on the run and in hiding ever since the reemergence of that demon worshipping cult," Gnarl stated as he used the stick to navigate the blocks, herding them into a spot near the edge of the map evidently bordered by either a cliff or by the seaside... he wasn't able to tell thanks to how unclear the map was. "But that doesn't mean we've been idle and licking our wounds, or wallowing in self pity like those useless layabouts we were forced to ally ourselves with out of necessity. No. Crippled though we may be, evil always finds a way my lord. It took some time and it had been a pain to ensure the reds stayed with us rather than migrate like the others in our latest scattering, but we've been carefully selecting and using supplicants for expeditions into what was once Hapvire, now the Infernal Lands, to retrieve the artifacts we left behind, tools of the Overlords that were abandoned or else forgotten with time." Using the flat end of the stick the minion dragged the rock to him and held it up for emphasis and representation. "The Tower Heart is chief amongst these relics... and thanks to us, as well as a lack of an overlord to be in tune with, it had weakened considerably."

"Originally a tool to act as a reservoir of magical power for an overlord, and as a means empower more... automatic defenses for those times heroes either had the notion to sneak into our master's home while they're away or asleep, it had been with the overlords since its inception. And with time it only grew more powerful: soon enough we were able to teleport to distance lands with the construction of gates attuned with the energies of the Tower Heart, not to mention keep tabs on lands conquered by our masters amongst other things. Sadly however thanks to a no good _elf_ , a failure of a one at that!" he exclaimed before continuing, "who slipped into the tower while we were away, awaiting a new overlord to lead us, it was shattered. Without a vessel to contain its awesome energies within it the surrounding land around the tower was destroyed, and from there a plague of magical origin emanated. This of course gave rise to a anti-magic sentiment that only grew worse over the years that followed even after the plague itself had died out, leading to the persecution of both the evil and the good alike if they could so much as conjure a spark between their fingertips or had even an iota of a mythic origin."

He placed the rock back on the table. "By the time our new master arrived this movement had turned into the so called "Glorious Empire", headed by that damn fool elf disguised as their emperor whose armies were trained to capture and kill beings of magic, forcing everyone into hiding..." Gnarl sighed. "As such by the time we had taken the fight to them we had reacquired the Tower Heart, recharged it, and used it against their capital to pierce their anti-magic defenses. I'll admit it was a bit of a waste of such an artifact of great power but such was the need at the time..." Taking a hold of the stick he began to push it toward the blocks. "But thankfully it survived just like last time. For years we've been scouring the ruins of the Empire's destroyed capital and piecing it back together piece by piece, but once again it was left powerless from its abuse."

He pushed the rock past the blocks and rearranged the items so the rock was directly behind the wooden objects. "When we first arrived in these lands we simply had the intent to build up a stronghold for our new master, in essence yourself when it was time at last... yet as you can see we weren't really successful in that. But our endeavors haven't been a complete waste, oh no! We've been watching the locals, those black skinned elves you saw lying dead in that village we arrived in." He hopped off the stool and rounded the table to where the rock was. Once he arrived however he turned back with a grumble however. He made it to his stool, grabbed it and dragged it to his newfound spot where he stood atop it once more. From his vantage point he jabbed his finger against the map at a spot right next to the rock. "Though it isn't the only one we have found within the lands, in this, the least guarded village we could find they had erected a mana vent! A fairly old one at that. And better yet they almost always leave it open! So in the dead of night we snuck the heart into the room where the mana vent is and hidden it as best we could in the shadows in the back. Though it would've been a long process, the ambient energies emitted by that vent would've recharged the heart eventually, making it ready for you or any of your own descendants if that was the case... At least that was the plan."

"Excuse me," Naruto interrupted. Gnarl canted his head in his direction. "Yes sire?"

"What's a mana vent?"

"Ah yes, I didn't get to that part yet... then again since we don't have the heart we can't jumpstart your own magical abilities." He cleared his throat as he fully turned to Naruto, stick in both hands. "I guess the best way to describe mana is to compare it to that energy those "shinobi" in your village use, that... chakra was it?" At Naruto's nod he continued. "While not everyone can use it, much less have it in the first place, mana would be the power in one's self to use magic to say cast a fireball, teleport one's self to different points of interest, or even," he giggled, "control the minds of weaker wills, forcing them to serve you whether they like it or not!"

"But those are just examples to the vast possibilities that comes with magic, much like those abilities that use chakra if I'm right."

Naruto frowned but otherwise didn't comment as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"At any rate, as awesome a power it is, one can only use so much of it at a given moment. As such it comes to no one's surprise that many people, regardless of race, have spent a great deal of time and effort to increase their own reserves. That or at least make what they have all the more formidable when used. Fruits of such labors include the Tower Heart itself and these vents! Still, to answer your question, mana vents are probably the oldest, crudest and sometimes the most effective means to transport mana from a naturally occurring source of magic to another location where the ambient energies can either help awaken or even bolster the power of mana users. But it comes with certain risks master, but let us cross that bridge when we get to it." Once more he returned his attention to the map and with the stick he dragged one of the cylinders to the blocks.

"As I was saying, some days ago we learned these "black elves" weren't the only ones within these lands when the ones with blue skins arrived and started to slaughter or enslave everyone they could find. What's worse was that when they were looting the place they not only found the Tower Heart but made off with it as well!" Gnarl grumbled to himself as he shuffled the rock, a pair of blocks and the cylinder away from the rest to where the rest of the cylinders were. When they reached the gathering of cylinders he stuck his tongue out and grunted as he reached over, his clawed feet threatening to leave the stool as he tried to push a number of the other cylinders away. Alas he overreached and lost his balance, causing the stick to lurch forward and knock the items he was pushing over as he himself had toppled off his stool with a "gah!", earning the chuckling of the nearby minions at his plight. Meanwhile just as one of the cylinder objects was about to fall off the table, a minion in a red golden button coat with golden filigrees along the cuffs and lapels, black pants, a poufy shirt underneath the coat, grabbed the item and placed it on the table. Atop his head was an odd red hat decorated with gold threading decorating it in various lines and borders, a red gem being the centerpiece of a golden band along the brow. Along the front of the hat was a parting outlined in gold to showcase a small gap within the cap to form two angular protrusions. It was only by spotting his grayed skin and his glass eye that Naruto was able to realize it was Quaver who had disappeared some time ago.

"As he was saying sire, we tracked those lousy brutes and thieves down to a small fort some distance away. And while it would normally be a problem for anyone other than at least an experienced overlord, while we were watching it we noticed what we could only assume to have been half the entire garrison leaving the premises for what we speculate to be a war with their black kin!"

"I was getting to that Quaver!" Gnarl barked once he stood up. In one deft stroke he reached over, grabbed a wooden block and chucked it at the minion before he realized he was being attacked. Like Gnarl, Quaver tumbled over with a sharp "gah!" of his own upon being struck by the block of wood, eliciting the impish chuckle of the minions by doing so. Grumbling to himself about "upstart" minions, Gnarl finally spoke up after a moment's worth of sulking. "What he said is correct however. While we may not know the true number garrisoned at their fort at this very moment, we suspect most had left, armed to the teeth and in marching order no less. In other words at the very least there should only be a token force left behind, enough to challenge any would be hero or..." he chuckled a tad darkly, "an aspiring Overlord in training."

"Regardless however, at any rate we would need the Tower Heart back if only to have a fighting chance. Even if it's still weakened, it should be enough to awaken your own latent powers my lord. Who knows? Maybe it'll go nicely with those chakra abilities, or at least give you a more diverse arsenal to rely on in a fight!"

Quaver in the meantime pulled himself up with the use of the table as leverage.

"So what say you, master? Shall we get started?"

Looking over to the older minion, he nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this."

XVX

Underground, half and hour later

With the coin Gnarl had shown on the map at least two routes to the fort. In one route they could easily slip in close to the fort through the forest. It was a matter of sneaking in that was the problem. Apparently the fort had been sealed off from the outside world by a roof and, worse yet, glass windows; he was no expert in breaking into places but even he knew that breaking through glass windows was a sure way to attract attention to one's self. But there was another way, the second route. Evidently discovered by a contemplative Gnarl on a walk as he was cogitating the issue at hand one day, there was an underground river that ran behind the cave where the minions have taken residence in. Not only was the tunnel wide enough to allow a party to walk beside the river itself, it was learned that this very river ran underneath the very fort they wanted to invade...

The best part was that it wasn't even guarded.

Old rusted bars of iron and decrepit doors had been rent apart by the browns with overseen care to keep them from utterly slamming the once barriers into the ground. Old crumbling passageways had been navigated with the help of the reds to light the way, and now they stood in what appeared to be the basement of the fort. Or, more accurately, its apparent dungeon...

The dead, the dying and the abused were chained to what walls that were still equipped with working shackles. On stretching racks and torture wheels were prisoners were some prisoners as well who had looked to have been freshly worked over and left unconscious on the implements. In cages hanging from the ceiling above him were even more, one for each at bare minimum just by counting the legs dangling out from the edge of one side. Some had as many as four... From all he could see in that one large room alone, the 'lucky' ones by relativity had been herded into a single large cell walled off from the rest of the room by a series of bars running from the ceiling to the ground. Fresh ones too, or at least well cared for given what they went through to get here... not that it helped with the smell of death, decay and feces any... Never had he so distinctly desired to vomit from smelling something so foul before; seeing maggots eat away at dead flesh and wounds fester on those who were still alive compounded the horror trying to overwhelm him.

"Jeune! (1)"

Snapping his head in the direction of the cell he saw one of the less roughed up "Dark elves", as Gnarl had taken to calling them, was beckoning him over whereas everyone else was either content with silently eying him from their spots, seeing what he would do, or backing away if they could. Battered as he was though, unlike most of his kin he stood stoically amongst the gloom, the darkness and the blood that surrounded him with what could be construed as a subconscious scowl on his lips, one not necessarily aimed at the overlord in his sights. In fact he kept gesturing for him to come to him much like a parent would for their child if they desired to talk to them. Glancing about to ensure they were alone, that a guard of some kind wasn't lying in wait or just entering the room, Naruto slowly made his way to the elf with his six browns and four reds dutifully following him. And though he was visible enough in the poorly lit room thanks to the sparse amount of lit torches, as the blond drew closer he was able to make out at least some the angular and sharp features of the bald elf's bruised face.

"Que faites-vous ici, jeune? (2)" the elf asked only for Naruto to blankly stare at him in confusion. He pursed his lips as if biting back a sigh. "Vous ne pouvez pas me comprendre, vous pouvez?(3)" At seeing Naruto's lack of a proper respond he sighed and knelt down. With both hands he pointed at the young teenager, then to the doorway he had come from, pausing only to disdainfully glance at the minions who blandly stared back at him the entirety of the time, then held up his hand in a flat gesture. With his free hand he pointed at the boy once more, tapped his palm and with wiggling fingers seemingly pantomimed the act of running away. At least that was what Naruto guessed what the elf wanted him to do, run away...

... Yet he just couldn't bring himself to even entertain the thought, not after seeing what he had seen already.

A lock audibly "thunked" from across the room and the craggy sound of rusted door hinges squeaked as said door was pushed open. The elf before him hissed at him and frantically waved at him in a shooing motion. Already the young overlord made for cover with his minions following suit. Yet with only so many places to hide they all crowded themselves underneath a nearby stretching rack. Wanting to at least know how many were coming that he had to deal with he crawled and practically shoved his minions out of the way so as to peek out from underneath the table to the now discernible staircase. Though he wasn't able to make out more than two, they didn't bother closing the door behind them. One appeared to be drinking what looked to be a bottle of liquor as he descended the stairs as well. Thanks to the greater brilliancy of the light from beyond the door it took him a moment to readjust to the abyss that was the poorly lit dungeon, and by then the two "blue elves" had reached the ground floor. And though he wasn't able to get a proper look at them from underneath the table, it was obvious enough their getup was at best lighter versions of the heavier armor he had already seen in the village, essentially just breastplates and leg guards at most. On their backs were canisters, lighter or at least smaller versions than the others he had seen thus far, and from what looked to be hosing fastened to the tanks, they were connected to a face mask covering the bottom half of their faces with the inclusion of their noses when it was properly fastened.

The one without his mask took another swig from the bottle in his hand and quickly pulled up the mask to take a quick breath of air through it as the other one head for a nearby wall to a previously unnoticed rack of torture implements. The one with the bottle lowered his mask and took yet another swig, tilting his head back as far as it could go. With his head still tilted back the bottle left his lips, his mouth wide open as he shook the bottle for what was probably the very last few drops. Whether he had successfully claimed the last few droplets of liquor, or wine now that he caught a good look at the shape of the bottle, he finally canted his head back down to its natural setting, albeit tilted to look at the equally lowered bottle. He then looked to the cell at the other side of the room. He then drew his arm back and hurled the bottle at them. It didn't reach them, instead crashing on the floor some feet away but it was enough to have those closest to the bars recoil or else flinch in the bald one's case. Regardless he let loose an uncouth, drunken laugh even as he shoved his masked back into place. Laughing still he shambled to the nearest stretching rack, stumbling into it as if he hadn't expected it there. He probably would've been still amazed from its 'sudden' appearance had its occupant not jerked against their bondage with a whimper. Yet for what it's worth he was dumbfounded enough to at least blink in confusion before reaching out to a turn wheel and pushing against it with a drunken laugh. It only got louder when the rack's victim screamed in pain. The other one in the meantime had long since found his own victim chained to the wall and had been whipping him with a lazy ease as if it were a chore onto itself that didn't bear even the slightest amount of interest beyond needing to be done...

In silent, perturbed outrage Naruto's hand clenched.

He looked to the prisoners, the ones he could readily see and then to the open door. He even spared the torturers a glance as he contemplated on what to do: If he struck out now there was no guarantee he could do so quietly. And if he learned anything from his minions they weren't exactly stealthy in their enthusiasm to carry out his orders either. He could very well call the remaining garrison down on himself if one of the jailers screamed loudly enough... Yet, as he thought of his other option of waiting them out, he know didn't have the heart to listen to the screams and pleading of the abused...

... Wellhe was going to get caught sooner or later. Might as well try to do something right before then.

With a wave of his hand the minions charged out from under the table at the drunken elf at the rack. Startled, both elves ceased what they were doing to at least discern what was happening when the one at the rack had been tackled to the ground and mobbed by the minions. In seconds flat he was murdered in the flurry of axes, swords, maces and fireballs. With another wave of the hand the minions turned their murderous sights on the other one who was too stunned to move. He didn't even spare Naruto a glance as he scrambled out from underneath the table, nor did he raise the whip he had equipped himself with at the minions as they set themselves upon him with brutal efficiency.

As the other one was being torn apart and looted, Naruto had made his way to the fresh corpse and bit forced down the bile climbing up his throat as he searched the murdered elf for some keys. Thankfully they were easy to find on his belt, a simple key ring with a sparse few rings. When he sensed movement he jerked his head up and was almost surprised at how silently the minions had returned to him. With only a little effort he snapped the ring of keys off the elf's belt and handed it to a minion who accepted it. With a sudden jutting of the overlord's hand to the side the sole minion with the keys ran off with a giggle as it held the keys up high as he made a b line for the bald elf at the cage. Naruto however didn't look, he didn't want to look at the dungeon any more than he had to as he made immediately headed straight for the stairs. He didn't even bother listening to the distinctive sound of one key after another being jammed into a cell's lock, nor the pitter patter of the clawed feet of the minion who returned to the obedient formation behind him.

He didn't even spare anyone or anything another glance as he ascended the stairs and rushed through the door.

 **A/N: I was hoping to get this out before Christmas or at least close to it but...** **reasons.** **Some good, some bad (by relativity), and some just not worth mentioning for a lack of interest.** **At least I got it done before the New Year!** **Also on a side note this might be the last time I try to go for three posts within a month outside the holiday (namely Christmas) season.** **I'm sorry but I have a project I'm trying to dedicate myself too.** **It's selfish I know but I at least want to take a shot at it for myself.**

 **As for the use of French... Everything's sexier in French!** **Really though I was planning on making up a new language (and most likely fail horribly at it because it requires an amount of time and dedication I lack at the moment), but at this point it's me racing against the clock...** **Needless to say you may very well find other official languages in use within this story.**

 **For the record I also use Google Translate since I do not speak any other language other than English. If anyone wants to take a crack at creating a unique language you're more than welcome to.** **The same could be said towards correcting languages that you feel Google Translate was inadequate in translating into another language.**

(French) (1) "Young one!"

(2) "What are you doing here, young one?"

(3) "You can't understand me, can you?"

 **I hope you had a fun read (despite the darkening at the end there).**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention. No refunds.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Four: You never forget your first raid

Fort

The difference between the dungeon and the fort proper was startlingly clear even if there wasn't a light to help make the difference. The hallways were impeccably clean and looked to have been made from expensive stones of prestige like the dark marble that made up the very floor. Even the rooms he peeked in through open doors and occasional checking were nothing short of what one would find within a noble's palace. Each inch of each room and hallway had been polished with a fine sheen that it was almost disturbing to see a perfect reflection of himself and his minions matching them step for step. In fact it was also a bit distracting, namely for the minions whom if he wasn't watching would take what chances they could to make faces at their own reflection or else wave their arms about for their own amusement. Aside from that however he began to notice another feature that was making him feel a bit... nauseated.

The further they crept through the fort, thankfully without resistance, the air became... thicker, heady, something. He didn't know what word best described it but it made his skin tingle nevertheless. Whatever it was it was persistent to say the least around the center of the fort as the outlying areas felt less... tingly. Thankfully though whatever this strange quality was it didn't make breathing a problem nor addled his mind for that matter, it just left a strange presence on him like he were walking through a thick fog.

"Master! Master, can you hear me?"

With a jerk Naruto looked up and down the hall they were in to see if anyone was with them before realizing whose voice that belonged to. He blinked in confusion when he failed to see Gnarl anywhere before remembering something: before leaving he was given one item aside from the equipment he wore now, a roughly hewn amber gem. Supposedly it was meant to have been installed onto his headpiece yet between Giblet's lack of delicacy with all things non-metal and a severe lack of jewelling equipment the best they could manage was a putting it a little pouch tied by a string that was further fastened to his belt. Apparently it was a means of communicating like the head piece radios he seen some shinobi wear around the village when they were leaving for faraway missions... The only problem with them, this "gem communicator" as it were, however is that without a substantial power source to empower it like the Tower Heart for example they practically useless for long range use. But with a font of power like a possible mana vent suspected to be within the fort, it should work. If nothing else they could possibly tap into the Tower Heart itself to give the jewel the boost it needs to establish a proper connection. But given how Gnarl was talking to him it now would seem there was indeed a mana vent nearby; those "blue elves" didn't seem to like to tarry in places without a mana vent it seemed according to Gnarl and Quaver; almost none of them left this fort for even a rudimentary patrol according to his minions.

With his confusion now gone he reached into the tiny pouch and fished out the rough cut gem which he held to his eye. "Ah, there you are! I was getting a little worried! And it seems you got in without any trouble as well. That's a great start as well!"

"Y-yeah," Naruto mumbled as he resumed his pace forward.

"Is something wrong Master?"

Naruto didn't respond at first as he stalled for time for his own sake by eying the passageway and what few open doors there were. "Master?"

He drew a deep breath to calm himself.

"Just... we entered this dungeon-place and found those dark elves there... They were... torturing them."

The minion hummed through the gem and for a moment Naruto couldn't help but imagine him stroking his beard in contemplation. "I see, I see," he hummed. "If I may ask you sire, how did you respond to all this?"

Naruto pursed his lips behind his scarf. "I sicked the minions on them, the torturers. It... they.. it just... sickened me."

"Ah," the minion murmured sagely. "If I may ask my lord, was it the dungeon and its masters that sickened you or was it in smiting them?"

"The... the torturers," Naruto answered him in confusion as he furrowed his brow at the gem.

"So not in smiting them?"

"N-no...?"

"Ah. That's good then."

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head, eyes wide in puzzlement.

The older minion hummed. "Like I said before, sire, evil can be quite relative. As infamous as some of your predecessors were, people tend to... overlook the transgressions of anyone who happens to have a bit of coin, a fair face and, most importantly, don't do in their misbegotten faces. That's especially true when they think no one is watching them. Even truer when they think they can't be touched either! Oh the suffering they inflected just for sport!" the minion giggled before calming down. "You won't believe how much some Overlords were just hated for being the lesser of two evils sire, especially if our previous masters think a good smiting is in order. After all, for 'good' or evil sire, an Overlord gets what they want, we minions are just happy to serve."

For a moment Naruto couldn't help but think of that one Overlord Gnarl mentioned, the one who ended up trapped in an abyss after flaying the Forgotten God. The one he had asked about before he had gone through the tunnel to the fort, and thankfully Gnarl was by no hesitant to brag and complain about him. He was by right of an extended legacy he was evil. With his objective he was certainly so on the face of it. He set off to slay the heroes who had betrayed him before becoming the Overlord of his time but they were by no means innocent. Even ignoring the fact they left him for dead without seeing if he indeed was, in the aftermath of their victory they had besieged, enslaved or led to ruin their respective domains and neighbors. The Overlord may have slain them in the name of retribution but he was kind and even patient to everyone else in need of aid; when he raided the Halfling's domain he restored the stolen food found within back to the starving village of Spree; he stormed a temple belonging to a religious order for denying sanctuary to the refugees trapped within their own city; he gave up a vault's worth of gold just to save the enslaved women of the elves, saving their entire race from decaying into extinction by proxy much to Gnarl's chagrin; even when the very village he saved and accepted him as their lord had betrayed them, he went after the one that intimidated them in the first place instead. As such he wasn't Gnarl's favorite that was for sure, but he was definitely one of the most notable...

If nothing else, for Naruto, he proved that one didn't have to be evil to be an Overlord. And like Gnarl had said... an Overlord one can do more good than the 'good guys' at times. He certainly proved that in the dungeon but moments ago...

He jerked his head up with widening eyes.

Back in the village he was the Demon Brat, named so for having been the convenient host for the Nine Tailed Fox. Yet for all the crap they put them through he was willing to bet _none_ of them could look him in the eye and legitimately tell him that _he_ had done anything wrong to them aside from a well deserved prank or two. At most he had to defend himself and others from snot nosed bullies! If he really was the terror they claimed he was then he could've done worse with ease! He wasn't a label damn it! He was Naruto Uzumaki! He was what he wanted to be, not a title or a label that had to act accordingly! He didn't need to conform to their desires and he certainly set out to prove it when he wanted to be Hokage! Granted that may as well be good as dead at the moment but that didn't mean he had to change who he was! If they didn't like him for it then fine, he didn't need them! If they have issue with it he had a fist with their name on it! And minions too to emphasis the point!

Smiling for the first time for what felt like an age Naruto squared his shoulders with newfound vigor and confidently strode forth.

"Now, given that we can speak like this sire it can only be assumed that a mana vent is nearby. That or the air is so charged that this gem is essentially overcharged with the ambient energy available because of that vent. Speaking of which, does the air feel unusual to you master? Thick perhaps?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Ambient energy then. Either they are somehow pumping a vast quantity of energy through that vent to supercharge your surroundings. That or, more likely, its been there and active far longer than I suspect. Hmm..."

In the silence that ensued Naruto continued his quest of peeking through doors and opening them to no avail.

"In any case, if they still have it then the Tower Heart should be nearby. With any luck it would be feeding on those very energies like it had before. If not, in the worst case scenario, that battalion that left took it with them and we simply didn't notice." Gnarl sighed heavily. "Well at any rate we could use the arms and armor of their armory. There probably wouldn't be much left at this point but our minions could use the quality equipment when you return—Giblet can only do so much with that forge of his with what we have available now a days."

"Wait," Naruto said as he came to an abrupt halt, his hand on a door as he realized something.

"Yes master?"

With what he knew there was basically two ways out of the dungeon as far as he knew: the way the blue elves came from which he used to leave and the tunnel he used to come in the first place. If he were in their shoes and didn't have a good reason not too, he'd take the tunnel if he at least suspected it. With that in mind, there could very well be a band of the dark elves shuffling their way to the Lair at this very moment!

"The elves, the prisoners, are probably making their way back to the Lair as we speak! I—uh.." His mind drew a blank on what to say.

"Oh! Are they invading? Don't worry master! I won't let some whining hippie elves boot us out of _ANOTHER_ of our settlements! Not while I have anything to say about it!"

"Wait, wha—NO!" Naruto barked a little too loudly than he would've liked. "Just let them through! Give them... beds or food if they need it!"

Silence once again pervaded into the conversation.

"... Do I have to master?" he groaned.

"Yes," Naruto answered with a frown.

"... can I at least get Quaver to do it?"

"Uh... yes?"

"Good... good, good good. At least that winging lummox has some use after all," he grumbled. "Honestly, helping elves... it's the Hero Overlord all over again," Gnarl continued to grumbled even as his voice became more distant for reasons unknown. Regardless, Naruto rolled his eyes as he pushed open the door and stared in open curiosity at what lay within.

Most rooms he had found were void of most things save for perhaps a forgotten footlocker and some furniture draped with sheets at the most. This one however was different entirely for its contents. sitting within the middle of the room appeared to be a sealed bronze vat that was about as wide as it was tall; there was barely enough room for perhaps two people to walk along the sides of the vat without brushing up against the wall. From the top of the vat to the ceiling he could easily imagine a fully grown man having to crouch down to walk along the top. The vat itself though was actually sitting atop a platform of dark marble, contributing to its apparent height but that wasn't what really drew his attention after the first glance. A narrow pipe of gold had been fed from a seamless and conforming hole in the ceiling and was attached to the vat. Likewise a larger pipe of copper had emerged from the floor in a likewise fashion and was connected to the vat by an elbow joint near the top. Aside from the unusual piping he couldn't help but eye the furnished oak table sitting in front of the vat that was laden with quite a few uncorked bottles of wine. Beneath the table and at its foot to the side were crates filled with their properly bottled counterparts, eleven crates in all, only one of which was empty. And there sitting perfectly in the middle of the table, underneath a spigot jutting out from the vat was a bottle prepared to be filled.

"Alright, Quaver has been informed and is now tending to the refugees who are emerging from the tunnel as we speak... I make no promises however if one of them finds starts playing a lute and start singing kumba-whatissit though. Or a violin... A harp I can withstand but that's the line!"

Again Naruto rolled his eyes as he approached the vat.

"Oh? What's this?" Gnarl paused for a moment as Naruto drew nearer. When he was close enough he stopped at the edge of the table and grabbed the nearest bottle he could reach for his own personal inspection, the gem held aloft to grant Gnarl the same rough view he had of what looked to be deformed grapes on a vine. In fact they were darker than the typical picture of grapes he had seen like someone had taken the time to darken them themselves. In fact he could see the little irregular bumps and jerks left behind by whatever implement they had used to color them in the first place in a failed attempt to color within the given lines. Actually on a second look and squinting he was able to make out what appeared to be anguished faces on the grapes which gave them their deformed look. "Huh... what an usual style. I wonder what it could mean," Gnarl hummed.

"In any case though I think a little catharsis is in order sire. Even the most ruthless of lords had survivors escape their most ingenious and calculated of raids and ambushes after all master. And in their home territory they do have a tendency of grabbing what they can before getting out of there. It would be such a shame though if they had to endure all of that while _sober_ ," the minion offered with a chuckle. And while Naruto couldn't quite agree with the minion master, he was right. It was almost like a prank boiled down to its more base, anarchistic form...

Meh, they deserved it at any rate. Catharsis it is then!

With but a wave of the hand the minions eagerly dove straight into the crates and scattered them as they bashed, tossed and _destroyed_ the bottles of wine and their wooden containers. In seconds flat puddles of wine converged into one large pool that only grew from there. There was something odd however...

Throughout his exploration of the fort everything was quiet. It would've been creepy even if his minions weren't accompanying him and in doing so created their own brand of noise be it a clattering of claws, grunts, sighs and whatnot to inadvertently battle the silence. But now there was a low droning sound which came from the expanding sea of wine that the minions splashed about in to fulfill his whim. Whatever it was he couldn't quiet hear it between the splashing and the smashing but he could swear there was something to it. Curious and on a hunch he turned to the spigot and twisted its valve. In turn the wine from within the vat began to pour out into the bottle. Not only that but by proximity he was able to hear the droning much more clearly now, but it wasn't that at all. Even amongst the rampant destruction he was able to hear the groaning coming from the liquid itself as it poured out like liquefied sludge into the bottle.

When the bottle was full and forced to spill out the liquid it seemed to crawl rather than slip down the glass to the table beneath it. Hesitantly he reached out with a finger and swiped it along the oozing wine before drawing it back to personally inspect the liquid which clung to his gloves' finger as if desperate for what comfort it could provide. With equal hesitation he stuck his tongue out and lapped a single lick from his glove. He immediately regretted it afterward.

For a split second he saw a faces. No, _faces_ , each one distorted and contorted as a writhing mass clinging to one another like a pile of still living corpses. Each face was void of anything more identifying than soulless, nondescript eyes blindly peering out and their gaping mouths which silently screamed but even he could make out the almost invisible differences between those who were male and female, but only on an instinctual level. Just as soon as the image had appeared it was gone and he found himself immediately retching to spit out that one taste from his tongue with only half a mind to vomit out of disgust for good measure. Before he even realized it he had set his minions on the vat itself, more accurately the spigot since they lacked anything that could do any real damage to the structure of the vat on such short notice. Already the table and its bottles were smashed and the browns were dutifully trying to rip out the spigot with pure brute force. After some seconds they not only succeeded but tore a small hole into the tank as well which the wine had no choice but to gush out from like a sluggish waterfall.

"We'll I'll be... And here I thought they were just your typical merry band of bandits and raiders... rich ones but raiders all the same," Gnarl mused.

"What is this stuff?!" Naruto cried out in a demand as he staggered away from the ocean of wine forming before him. Already he was desperately wishing for the almost unnerving silence he had to endure before in face of the unnatural groaning.

"Wine of Suffering I'm afraid sire," Gnarl answered him. "Never thought I'd see it again. Much less in the presence of an elf, savage as this lot is."

"It's a rather nasty little mark of prestige amongst the amongst the so called upper crust of the realm that is Evil sire. Typically those who like to think themselves as rulers of the world or have a status rivaling that or your own at its peak my lord at the very least. Individuals so black and vile even _I_ get repulsed by them time from time! And that's saying a lot!" The minion then hummed as Naruto scrambled out into the room with his minions, slammed the door and stepped away for good measure. "I'll admit though, I thought it had fallen out of favor long ago. I guess it was just Hapvire that dropped the habit of making the stuff."

"Just... just..." Unable to form words as he backed away, especially once some of the wine had seeped out from underneath the door, he flailed his arms in the direction of the dungeon. Despite not saying anything, Gnarl seemed to have understood what he wanted to say.

"Yes sire, it is quite literally made from suffering. In all likelihood that dungeon you encountered must have been connected to that distillery..." He audibly shuddered at a thought. "It could be worse sire. They could've put it inside the dungeon itself to save on costs. Hell, some victims have been known to have drowned in the stuff to give it a little extra kick!"

Sickened to the core Naruto unabashedly fled from the unnatural liquor in the direction he originally intended to travel in. He didn't even try to glance at the doors that were open in favor of gaining distance from the concoction. It was at the corner of the next obligatory turn at the end that he came to a stop and collected enough of himself to wave an arm back to the growing pool of wine back down the hall. At his unspoken command the reds dashed off, arms reared back and happily flinging forth fireballs into the expanding pool till it ignited in a more comforting flame. As the flame spread to the rest of the wine he could've sworn he heard Gnarl giggling to himself in the meantime.

XVX

The further he ventured inside the fort the easier it was to tell that the fort was indeed manned by more than two blue elves. The rooms he began to investigate beyond that point were definitely that of luxurious bedrooms or store rooms packed with a disorganized clutter of all manner of things. There were even sightings of the fort's inhabitants who seemed none the wiser of the infiltration and sabotage as they milled about with their own objectives in mind. In fact he had yet to see any of them armored in the slightest as opposed their puffy shirts, silken and embroidered clothes, majestic gowns and robes. Not only that but their weaponry, even should they be carrying them or had left them behind in their rooms, were ceremonial or decorative in nature. As such the more he observed them the more he couldn't help but question if this was even a garrison in the first place. From what he observed the blue elves obviously favored blue clothing for the most part and even indulged in some white here and there. They also fancied silver and gold ornamentation from embroidery to heraldry as well if anything was stitched upon their clothing. Not only that but in following them in general he had soon learned there was a surprising many dens and lounges that the blue elves congregated in, albeit in small numbers as far as they were concerned. Four or five at the utter most. Their numbers would probably count closer to fifteen however if he counted the slaves he unwittingly found however...

Human, black skinned and even normally skinned elf alike, much to Gnarl's delight, were collared and shackled to keep them from having mobility and agility greater than an aged man with arthritis. But it seemed to serve the blue elves well enough as the slaves were forced to take their time in conducting what orders they were given. In fact even if they were quite literally shuffling right in front of them the blue elves were content with deliberately ignoring them as if they weren't there to begin with even when being attended to. That is of course if none of them, say, spilled something on them. Or bumped into them. Or, after a subsequent beating of any perceived infraction, bled on them by accident through a broken nose, resulting in another beating and even some reprimanding slices into their skin if they had blades on hand. If none of them were forced to serve their apparent masters then they clung to the walls as if hoping they wouldn't be noticed. What few that tried to escape altogether as stealthily as they could were tortured from afar by magic without much more than a glance and a wave of the hand, often leaving than little more than twitching cadavers to be walked over for all intents and purposes. Of those few that were not forced to serve them directly or else 'hiding,' some slaves, typically women for the most part, were painted up and even dressed like the courtesans and made to apprehensively snuggle into the sides of their otherwise 'ignorant' slavers. That is to say if they still had a spark of willpower to their lives. Some however seemingly gave up and draped themselves onto their masters like sycophants or the otherwise resigned. In a way it only made his victories all the sweeter whenever they cheered and adored him.

Even when he was spotted from the start they were all too shocked at the sheer notion that someone had infiltrated this far. In that short amount of time it took them to rally their senses he had let loose his eager minions on them. Even if they managed to reaffirm themselves in time to retaliate or else defend themselves in the nick of time they were horrified anew when their own blood or that of their allies' had been spilt. In short these skirmishes were nothing short of short lived and often without resistance much like his encounter with the jailers. In fact the encounters were so easy that he couldn't help but question if these were the exact same raiders that had stolen the Tower Heart.

Regardless, the slaves for the most part were grateful. A good few tried to communicate with him but with the language barrier between them there was nothing to be gained or truly acknowledged beyond simple praise, or in the sycophants' cases, loathing. Yet all had the same reaction in the end though. With no one to 'mind' them they shambled off in an exodus through the passageways he came through, the ones marked with blood from the young overlords lessening apprehension and the mayhem of broken possessions. He knew not what they did afterwards though. He didn't bother to find out.

As time wore on he soon came to find himself picking apart the garrison piece by piece the garrison in his blind search for the Tower Heart, each and everyone one a target of opportunity. In his growing aversion toward being civil in light of what he had seen thus far he had come to ransack each and every room, in turn slowly improving his horde of minions with new weapons, armor and was even rewarded with small sacks of gold presented to his person. Unfortunately said sacks had to be abandoned—there was only so much room in his pockets and jingling coins would only attract attention; Gnarl fervently claimed this problem would be fixed once he had the Tower Heart, whatever that meant. It wasn't until he reached what he could only assume to be the very heart of the fort that this now rinse and repeat cycle came to an end though. When he peeled back the double doors that barred his path he was greeted by the most spacious and lest ostentatious room by far. It was apparently the side of the room he had entered through but that didn't matter. In the open space before him was a circular grate in the floor, heavily laden with golden mesh on its surface with a series of thick crisscrossing bars underneath it for support for both the mesh and anyone who happened to be on it. Billowing out from underneath the meshing and the bars came a thick miasma of blue vapors coming forth like a cloud. But his focus wasn't on that nor the pair of staircases he partially eyed that lead to a second level within the room, a balcony if one would. Suspended in midair above the grate and barely hidden away by the mists was an orb far larger than himself in both height and width. From underneath its glasslike surface was a gentle maelstrom of energies which brilliantly shown out even when it was partially obscured by the fog. By staring at it long enough he was able to make out ghosting streaks of white that occasionally flickered like wisps with the more turbulent cerulean within the orb.

"Master! You've found it! The Tower Heart," Gnarl giddily rasped. "And better yet those fools are even charging for you! It might even be fully charged as we speak and awaiting your claim over it! Go my lord! Go before they come and scurry off with it once again like the rats they are!"

At his prompting Naruto dashed forth. In no time he reached the edge of the grate and hesitated as he watched the rising plumes of the strange substance continuously rise out from the hidden depths below which seemingly held the Heart aloft.

"Hm... yes. Probably not a good idea to step into that," Gnarl muttered. "High concentrations of mana have been known to... mutate things. If only we had the Blues. Then again we would have to get that down first. Look around the room master. Almost all mana vents have some kind of built in method to regulate the mana passing through like a dam does with water. If not then, well, we may have to 'ask' your 'splendid' hosts to get it down for you. A good whop on the head should do the trick!"

Taking his advice to heart Naruto began to look about the room from corner to corner in search for some kind of mechanism. As such he found it between the staircases, beneath the balustrade of the level above. At least he thought it was it. In any case it was a rotary wheel with two arms forming a right angle with a square base connecting the two. Immediately he sent his minions over to it yet when they reached it, pushed on it and tugged on it with all their might it wouldn't budge.

"Ugh... how I despise those things. One would think at least having _one_ arm on those wheels would be enough but _noooo_. If it isn't jammed by some sort of weight lock then somehow, some way those missing arms lock the wheel in place... I swear it's like all the engineers in the world gather in one spot in secret just to conceive the most annoying and impassible of objects till their 'requirements' are met!" Gnarl irritably grumbled. "Looks like we have to find those missing levers sire. With any luck they were too lazy to put them very far away. If worse comes to worse I suppose we'll have to loot some of those corpses for their staves."

"Qu'est-ce que c'est ça?!(1)"

As his minions dutifully returned to him the young overlord snapped his head up to the second level of the room where a bald blue elf in golden robes with cyan trimmings stood peering down at him in utter bewilderment. A moment later he was joined by another in similar clothing and wearing a garish, triangular hat which matched his outfit. In his hand though was none other than one of the two missing rods held to the side as if it were a walking staff.

"Well that's convenient."

As the two suddenly bickered and their conflicting words garbled what could've been heard, the reds ran forth at Naruto's command whilst with an outstretched commanded the browns up the stairs. Sure enough the fireballs the reds launched easily drew their attention on them and with scowls the one with the 'staff' pointed it at them whilst the other made use of both his hands for the forthcoming spell. Evidently neither noticed the browns until they crashed into the one with the rod with demented jubilation and fierce war cries. Like all those before the other elf stared in absolute horror at what was undoubtedly a slaughter of his comrade before he bolted.

Unlike so many others before however he still had wit enough to him to act.

As he fled into the veritable safety that was beyond Naruto's sight, the elf flung a spell not directed at his minions. Instead it flew over the banister with an intentional purpose. Before he knew it this spell of raw magic collided with something overhead, behind him in fact. As he turned to spy on whatever it was a loud clanging sound toned throughout the room with such force and noise that he instinctually grasped to blot out the sounding of a bell, a **_heavy_** bell that shook the very room he was in. He wasn't the only one affected by it either. His minions suffered a similar fate as they too clutched at their own ears and yowled in pain whereas he clenched his teeth and grunted. Thankfully after what seemed to have been an eternity the bell's ringing subsided and as such both he and the minions found themselves straightening in relief. But when he looked up to investigate and perhaps glare at the bell, he partially wished it was his only problem.

From the very ceiling itself and seemingly made from the same ethereal wisps coming from the vent to his side were a grand multitude of eyes staring back at him. Every inch of the ceiling was covered from the looks of it, and most disturbingly, each one was staring solely at him and his minions.

"... you may want to start moving sire," Gnarl suggested.

Without any further prompting Naruto snapped his head to the nearest staircase where incidentally the rod from the wheel was being carried down. Thanks to the bell though the minions had dropped it in favor of caring for themselves and thus it had slid and bounced all the way to the bottom, waiting for someone to collect it. Rather than hesitate he threw his arm out and a pair of his minions rushed to the fallen rod. Without being ordered to they immediately began to shuffle to the wheel and attached the rod to it even as he and the other minions rushed passed them and up the stairs to the level the elf had disappeared from. It didn't take a genius to figure out where he went though—amidst the lounge chairs to the sides, the potted plants near them and a statue featuring the very two he had seen, there was only one set of double doors.

"Master! Look!"

In his confusion he jerked his head to and fro to see what it was that caught Gnarl's attention. As he was searching he couldn't help but notice there were more of those eyes even in the balcony. Eventually though he found it: the other doors of the room which he had barely noticed at best had been thrown open and from his poor vantage point he was barely able to see what looked to be heads rushing in through one of the three doors that ringed the lower floor. In but a couple of steps however he was quick to make out the largest gathering of the blue elves to date even as bedraggled stragglers ushered themselves through the doors with knives at the most; of the group of sixteen below him only two were even armored and armed with actual weapons whilst the rest barely stood out from what he had seen thus far.

With so many alert and confused eyes it was only a matter of time before anyone spotted him. Like so many times before the elves only looked up and gawked at him as if he were some exotic creature. Like so many times they simply couldn't seem to fathom the fact that there was an intruder within their fort. Yet there was a marked difference to this time and the others. The ones in full armor bounded up the stairs so quickly that Naruto found himself shaking himself off of the shock he had taken for granted. Before they managed to cross that last step he marshaled his minions and set them loose on the armored soldiers. Yet liken to how they differentiated themselves from the others with their decisiveness, they proved themselves a breed apart by matching the overwhelming swarm of the minion assault and were undeterred in their own retaliation. Swords had met a mishmash of weaponry and stolen armor, shields had blocked and bashed away minions to buy themselves breathing room, and their armor, though undoubtedly heated by the fireballs plaguing them, refused to outright burn under what could be considered a miniscule assault that was a force of four reds. Worse yet his minions, the browns whom happily adorned themselves with armor and weaponry that they deemed superior to their previous armaments began to die off one by one.

As the remaining browns continued to fight despite the odds he knew a change of tactics was in order, especially considering their own reinforcements were undoubtedly hurtling up the stairs at that moment. As such he stowed the gem away into its pouch and drew the sole weapon he had on his person, a curved knife, attached to his body only by a thing leather strap of a belt and a ragged leather scabbard that it happened to fit in on short notice. While barely bigger than a kunai and perhaps slimmer by a sixth of a fraction, aside from the adequate work of the crown he wore, it stood as a sign that Giblet was truly deserving of the position of Forge Master...

Unburdened by the gem in any fashion he dashed to the side to the wall closest to the battle itself. After years of training in the Academy and utilizing his skills for pranks he easily leapt onto a wall and from there launched himself into the nearest warrior who, upon spying on him and what he was doing, brought his shield up o counter him.

Unfortunately for the both of them they both underestimated Naruto's own strength.

Like a rocket he rammed into the shield with such force he managed to successfully cause the elf to lurch back and loose his footing in surprise. And though the overlord bounced off the shield and crashed into the ground, the elf stumbled into his partner and collided into the unsuspecting combatant just as he slew another brown. Once the unexpected body of the other elf smashed into him, both came tumbling down, dazed and pinned respectively once they hit the floor as a mess of bodies and limbs that were at the violent mercy of the minions whom eagerly took advantage of the situation. Even with armor on, it was only a matter of time before the determined and savage strikes of the minions ended them before a dazed Naruto was even a quarter of the way toward standing himself up with his knife at the ready. They were also happily looted for their weapons and helmets. Not only that but a pair of browns rushed forth from the corpses to present to him yellow-brown orbs which promptly vanished as soon as he touched them.

Regardless, with them dead and he standing on his feet Naruto had ordered a guard marker for the browns to man at the very top of the stairs to bar the reinforcements from entering, a second later the reds inhabited a second one at the rails where the two elves from earlier had stood and he himself stood over the railing to at least take stock of his situation before the blows came. In doing so he bore witness to a puzzling scene however. The other elves hadn't even made for the stairs at all, much less moved from their spots. In fact they seemed to be conversing with one another, shaking their heads, sighing... It was like they expected those two who stormed their position to have taken care of the intruders by now and thus need not concern themselves! Were they honestly that arrogant?

Good, evil or no, that was just an insult he wasn't get to take lying down!

As he recalled his minions to him as he considered how best to take them a flicker of movement caught his eye. He looked to the very door he came from and saw from his vantage point a dark elf doing his best to peek out from the corner of the doorway into the room with what looked like a short sword in hand. Likewise he saw shapes and scant glittering of weapons he had became somewhat familiar with at the other doors which now sported once slaves in similar positions with stolen weaponry. It didn't take much to formulate a plan right then and there. Not only that but cloth and flesh were far easier to set ablaze than metal.

Once more the reds gathered a guard marker of his choosing and with it they marched down the stairs till they were positioned within firing range of but a few of the blues whom continued to ignore what should've been the suspicious lack of soldiers returning to them. Even so the reds were all too happy to remind the elves of their presence with a volley of fireballs at the nearest elf within reach. In that one volley he was set ablaze with little effort and ran through his compatriots in both panic and pain, screaming fiery murder as he did so much to their shock and horror. Their horror only turned into outright terror when a second one was set ablaze by the reds, forcing him to run as well and the others to scatter like headless chickens; the prisoners needed no greater invitation than seeing them flock about that to storm into the room and assault them. Naruto would've watched it all really thanks to his growing loathing for the blue elves but he recalled his minions to him, yet he had something else in mind for his minions. As such he recalled them and brought them down on a new target—the double door that stood in his way. He honestly didn't know if it was locked or not but at this point he barely cared at most. Either way the minions were happy to oblige.

It took perhaps a full minute despite the onslaught of eager brutes and pyromaniacs but the doors gave way in the end. Once they did he strode forth with his minions in tow, knife at the ready and the minions giggling in anticipation of yet another fight but all were disappointed. In what appeared to have been a personal lounge barely anything was disturbed beyond a wardrobe near the back, close to a second double door to his right. In front of it was what looked to be a mannequin's torso which appeared to have been tossed onto the ground in a great hurry. Not only that but on a coffee table across the room from him sat a crystal ball on a four pronged stand with a bottle of wine, _that_ wine. Near it and surrounding it were shards of broken glass along the back half of the table and some of the floor in plain view as well. Also a puddle of the moaning liquid had pooled along the base of the ball's pedestal. Further evidence that something had happened was an open window to his left, right next to the couch which the crystal ball was situated in front of.

While he was a bit disappointed at the prospect that the elf fled from him, he was satisfied nevertheless. Especially since he saw the very thing he sought for his mission—the other rod was laying on a weapon's rack of ornate staff, just below an empty space at the very top; one minion dove straight toward it at his command whilst the others joyously ransacked the room out of pure spite on his behalf. They even set themselves on the other door while their comrade shuffled his way out of the room with the rod in his claws and subsequently disappeared...

Given the abuse, torture and decadence he had seen thus far, he wasn't quite prepared for what lay beyond the door which easily broke under the short lived siege.

Beyond the doors was yet another garish and richly decorated bedroom which shared two separate beds hugging their own walls on either side of the room. There were rugs, tapestries, mantelpieces, a hearth... and a naked dark elf whose head was forcibly shaven, their back littered with numerous cuts and lashes bared to him, and their arms, cuffed by their wrists, held aloft by chains attached to the two most relevant bed posts furthest from the headboard of both beds.

His minions utterly ignored the elf as they swept through the room on his command. It was but a matter of moments before they tore the beds down in their jubilant rampage before they turned their destructive sights on everything else, not that he paid them any mind at this point. Once the elf wrapped their arms around themselves the moment the chains came clattering down he cautiously moved closer while taking idle note of the numerous cuts and bruises littering the elf's frame... _her_ frame as he soon came to find out. But that, her nudity nor her lacerations, wasn't what bothered him. The second she whipped her head toward him at the sound of his footsteps he looked into what used to be her eyes— _there were no eyes_. Two gaping holes in her skull where her eyes used to be stared blankly at him as she cowered away. She was made all the more skittish when he hadn't realized he had dropped his knife in his shock, the clattering of which jerking him out of his engrossed standstill if only to snap to the knife as if _it_ was the threat.

"Adelia!"

He snapped his attention to the door and from there spotted the elf from the dungeon, the one who tried to talk to him first since this whole venture began. He along with his own companions stood at the door, all of whom were just as horrified as he was when the woman brought her shaking attention to them. After a moment's worth of hesitation they all strode out only for the bald one to whip his arms out and block the rest.

"Attends ici,(2)" he said to them before slowly striding forth. By glancing down he was careful to avoid the broken debris of the beds, the pottery and every other decoration the minions managed to get their claws on so as to not startle the woman. Yet despite his meticulous approach she began to inch away as if she was sensing his presence regardless of how quiet he was. Seeing this he slowed his own advance to a crawl. "Adelia, c'est moi, Helos,(3)" he softly offered as he reached out a hand to her. Alas she jerked away with a cry and shoved herself back, away from him and his hand. As such it was of little wonder the elf stilled with a severe, trouble frown on his face as he considered what to do, helpless as he was it seemed with such adversity set before him. It was a sentiment shared with everyone really save perhaps "Adelia" as she was called who almost feebly crawled backwards onto the wreckage of a bed to 'escape' them, her arm covering her bust for what modesty she could afford as her 'eyes' blindly darted about the room with the desperate hope of 'seeing' supposed threats.

Naruto who looked on was unable to think nor say anything as his mind wondered on how to help as he fought the bile threatening to rise in his throat. In the end though he couldn't think of anything as the woman shivered before him, her arms curling around herself as if to protect her from the world... but he had an idea. A concept really that could barely even be called a fledgling of an idea. One that had him remove his crown and set it on the ground so as to keep it from clattering and have the minions rallied around an imaginary flag. Like the other elf before he carefully approached her from despite the sharp, lecturing glare sent his way. In fact he gotten closer to her before she had sense his presence and reacted accordingly.

"Wait! I'm not here to hurt you! They're gone now!" He would've continued in a near panicked voice when he caught himself with a nugget of information he had shoved in his face since his arrival: he didn't understand a word that they had said, it also worked as such in reverse. He could tell her to calm down, recite the most epic stories he had heard and even made up or just simply say 'everything will be alright,' yet in all likelihood she would only perceive it as gibberish at best if he was lucky. Upon that realization he clenched his eyes and groaned aloud as he palmed his face before returning his attention to her tense form 'staring' at him...

... Well, he was already winging it...

"I-I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki," he said as he gestured to himself, his face pinching in realization that he was literally pointing himself out to someone who was forcibly blinded. "I..." he started to say but faltered as he stumbled about to find something to say. "I... just... want to... help," he said as he hesitantly reached out an offering hand to her.

She In turn didn't move at first as she regarded him as best she could. Slowly though, hesitantly and awkwardly she shakily pushed herself onto her feet and approached him with one hand carefully groping the air in admittance of her crippled state. The arm that covered her bust now slide down so as to cover the region between her legs as well as partially cover at least half of her bosom, the other half being left out in the open for all to see. Still, regardless of her nude state, with careful steps she advanced through the rubble of what used to be furniture and valuables with her hand jostling in the air, her breathing hitched and worried. As she got closer he was readily able to tell the difference between them with her easily being head and shoulders taller than himself with some inches to spare. As it was though her hand would most likely caress the top of his spiky hair long before his hand would even touch her. Not wanting to risk a freak out he lowered his own hand in time for her own to indeed flick through the gravity defying hair he sported. She gasped at first and jerked away before rallying herself once more to blindly grasp at his hair. Soon enough her hand caressed the top of his head and the both of them stiffened. Soon after her hand groped the entirety of his scalp to confirm it was indeed a head she was grasping, that it was indeed hair her hand was combing through.

A moment later she renounced her desire for decency to bring up her other hand to cup his cheek in another blind grope and a second later she knelt down, bringing her to eye level with him. Unfortunately however, despite being aware of it, seeing her ruined eyes in greater detail had caused him to involuntarily flinch within her grasp just as her first hand climbed down to caress his face as well. In response the elf stiffened as well and stilled with indecision, her breath coming to a halt as well. Quietly and slowly though her hands slipped down to his shoulders and from there her hands roamed his arms. Even from there she slipped her hands down to his own and grasped them, feeling them compared to her own which were easily larger in comparison, but as frail as her quietly quivering frame.

"Helos. L'instructeur Helos?(4)" she asked softly but loudly as though she wasn't talking to Naruto despite facing him.

"Oui. C'est moi,(5)" the bald one answered as he rose to his full height but otherwise didn't move.

"Était-ce... cet enfant qui m'a libéré?(6)" she asked without looking away from Naruto as her fingers felt and rubbed his fingers.

"Oui."

She didn't react at first, instead she continued to feel his fingers as if she were trying to find evidence to the contrary. "Était-ce lui aussi celui qui vous a libéré?(7)"

"Oui."

Then her lip quirked and a dry huff escaped her nose. Then another as he lips curved in a fracture smile of marred joy. She continued to huff and wheeze in a quickening pace in what Naruto soon realized to be laughter that desperately wanted to be laughter but couldn't quiet form itself to be so, but she was no less happy all the same. Before he knew it she threw herself against him and wrapped him in a surprisingly powerful, almost desperate hug of gratitude.

"Je vous remercie," he softly whispered between joyous wheezes. "Merci..."

 **A/N: ...** **Evil can indeed be relative sometimes.** **There are such a thing called Anti-Villains after all.**

 **Google Translator everybody.**

(French) (1) "What's this?!"

(2) "Wait here"

(3) "Adelia, it's me, Helos"

(4) "Helos. Instructor Helos?"

(5) "Yes. It is I"

(6) "Was... this... child the one who freed me?"

(7) "Was he also the one who freed you?"

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Five: The Potion of Tongues

Lair, unknown lands

The raid was, in short, a success. The 'defenders' were dead with barely any resistance to remember them by; aside from their armor kin, the apparent warriors, the elven 'nobles' as he taken to calling them were caught off guard between a slave revolt and the demented eagerness of the minions. In the end the halls and rooms were sacked, their surprisingly large armory having been sacked by both slaves and minion reinforcements, but most importantly the Tower Heart had been retrieved. Any other loot the minions got their claws on were simply a bonus; what wasn't adorned by the minions or taken by the slaves went to Giblet's scrap pile; a minion's barracks, really a relatively large shack, was converted into a 'vault' half filled with gold and any other precious metal that Gnarl kept from Giblet's scrap pile; and now there was actual furniture and a better bed in his own shack!

... It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine however, as much as Gnarl loathed them. Actually he may have preferred the both of them at the same time from Naruto's point of view: while a few of them literally left through the front door, namely the humans and other creatures, the dark elves however... followed him, plain and simple. And here they were now in the Lair, squatting at the edge of their base of operations, as close to the exit as they could get without leaving the safety of their newfound camp. Thankfully however they were largely content with keeping to themselves for the time being. That and Gnarl was largely content with either glaring at them for their 'elfiness' and promptly ignoring them in favor of whatever task he could find at hand once the young overlord made it clear he wasn't going to... "evict them" as his advisor had suggested. As luck would have it anyway the Tower Heart needed his more experienced attention anyway. That and the young overlord's attention as well.

"Hm, yes. Looks like those posh flops didn't damage anything," Gnarl murmured aloud, though he was talking to no one in particular. Naruto in the meantime watched from the sidelines while Gnarl carefully circled around the giant sparkling cerulean orb which stood taller and wider than most adults. A jeweler's monocle was held to the minion's eye as the minion master inspected the Heart for any at all damages or wanton defects. As he made pass after pass around each curve during his inspection he was careful to avoid the almost constricting ring of hastily thrown together rocks that acted as a ceremonial barrier of sorts; the minions responsible for it had tried to make it as fancy as possible with hastily etched 'runes,' scribbles really, and small ugly figureheads but sadly they were not artists by any stretch of the imagination.

"I do believe we're ready, sire!"

Naruto's attention jerked to Gnarl as he stepped away, stowed the eye piece away in a hidden pocket beneath his robes and excitedly rub his claws as he drew closer to the overlord with a hefty grin on his face. "Now normally the Heart would respond to an overlord already by either some sense of a forceful will or by sheer proximity alone. However given its... _rough_ handling so far it hasn't reacted to you just yet. But do not worry, master. It's nothing a good kick in the pants can't cure!" He turned to the heart with such haste that the crystal bobbed and bounced above him. "All it waits for is but a simple touch and a chance to bond and accept you like so many of your predecessors my lord! Oh it's almost like a family reunion," he sighed as he clapped his hands together. His face then scrunched up in thought. "Albeit one without flying limbs and some backroom backstabbing..."

"... my ancestor's?" Naruto hestitantly asked as her apprehensively looked to Naruto. The minion in turn looked over his shoulder with evident confusion on his face before he realized what was asked for him.

"Oh no, sire. Well... sometimes. Not as much compared to royalty and nobility however. Doesn't matter which land they're from but _those_ can get quite messy without any of us to help!" he giggled as he looked back to the Tower Heart.

... Naruto wasn't sure whether or not to feel comforted by that...

"Oh how I miss Westeros sometimes," Gnarl wistfully sighed.

After decidedly ignoring him and forcibly keeping himself from entertaining as to _what_ he was thinking about given what he surmised so far, Naruto strode forward in all haste with a hand outstretched to touch the giant orb. Once his hand skimmed its surface... he wasn't quite sure what had happened.

He was seeing without seeing. He saw the minions around him. He saw the lair. He saw the elves and what few vagabond humans that resided in the lair. He saw the rocks, the trees beyond the tunnel's mouth. The grass, the sky, the clouds and the sun without its blinding qualities... All the while he felt a thrum overtake his body in a tingling fashion that made his hairs stand on end as if an electric current was running through him without electrocuting him. Not only that but this strange feeling felt like it was... probing him. 'Seeing' him much like he saw the visions that swam before his eyes at an almost dizzying pace. Before long the thrum became stronger in its sensation, though not in a bad way. In fact the tingling became, in a word, relaxing as a strange wave bearing no name overtook him and nourished something. As to what it was 'nourishing' he didn't know. When the feeling began to gently recede like a tide he felt... energized, his vision clearing and brightening. Before he knew it he came to know the exact number of minions under his sway as well as how many he could directly command at a given time. He knew the value of the gold, the silver and other treasures his minions hoarded for him. He learned of the exact and minute details of the cavern that was his current abode from the angular corner terraces that was the uneven floor to the exact measurement of the cave. He even ended up spying an entrourage from the elven encampment making their way to a set of hastily constructed gates, four people in all. Before they could come near the gates they were headed off by Quaver who, in spite of the language barrier, greeted them as enthusiastically as he could.

"You did it master!"

Upon hearing Gnarl's voice he snapped out of it and instinctively drew his hand away, though more out of a lack of purpose than anything else. He was about to turn to the minion when something caught his eye. The orb was seemingly taller than he last remembered it. He stepped back to inspect how tall it had actually became when he noticed a new detail: from its resting spot on the ground it began to float over a meter from the ground and gently bob in place.

"I knew the Tower Heart would react to you! Oh how it warms my black heart to see this day come! All hail the Overlord!"

"HAIL!" the nearby minions gleefully chorused and cheered.

"Oh I can't wait to begin the lessons! Granted I may not be as versed in magic as, say, a wizard, but I'm more than certain you've been given a good old favorite: the fire ball spell! Oh! That reminds me! Turn around! Let me get a good look at you!"

Curious, he obliged him and raised a brow at his positively giddy expression that stayed with him as he addressed the minions that loosely surrounded them. "Quick! Find me a mirror you louts!"

The minions eagerly obeyed as they dove into nearby crates and their own shacks. As Naruto approached the minion, lips pursed in a inquisitive bent, a good few had managed to bring back a few shards once belonging to mirrors, some large, some barely any bigger than their claws. As if provided with an unheard command the minions hoisted up their respective mirrors for the young overlord to peruse at his liesure, regardless of the fact he wasn't sure what was going on. As a few more began to join the growing gathering of mirrors his eye quickly caught something that stood out from himself, his eyes, and not in the vain sense either.

His eyes were glowing, plain and simple.

Startled, he lurched forth and grabbed one of the larger mirror shards with both hands and held it up to better inspect this new phenomena. At first it looked like the whites of his eyes had been replaced with a dull yellow glow, leaving only his blue irises intact. Upon closer and more worried attention however he was quick to discover that they hadn't changed colors per se... more like a strange light was emanating from the very... 'skin' of his eyeballs that bathed them in a strange but dull yellow light.

"What's going on?!" he all but shouted as his grip shook between worry and some exertion to keep the mirror aloft.

"It's nothing to worry about sire," Gnarl offered sagely in the best placating manner he could provide as he rounded around the mirror to present himself in its reflection from behind the rogue shinobi. "In fact it's quite a common reaction amongst those who had their magical potential unlocked. It'll die out on its own accord in due time. Though, just so you are not alarmed, it's not unheard of for your eyes to change to a more permanent hue. In fact your ancestors encouraged such a change! You have to admit, glowing eyes look _a lot_ more intimidating from underneath a dark helmet!" Gnarl cackled.

At Naruto's lack of a response he offered an afterthought. "Either way it's not unheard of to change your appearance by magical means, master. They can even be permanent, so long as the user wishes it of course. Either way it requires quite a bit of practice... and perhaps an exploding eyeball or two. Preferably your enemy's eyes of course. So shall we return to the practice field to begin your magic training? It's going to be very fun!"

"And burny!" a red from the side offered.

"With marshmallows!"

"YEEEAAAAH!"

"Quiet you!" Gnarl barked. His eye however did twinkle at the prospect of another marshmallow roast however even as he returned his attention back to Naruto whom had lowered the mirror into an awaiting minion's claws. "As I was saying, shall we begin your new training?"

"Sure—"

"Sire! Sire!"

From the side of the small clearing amongst the city of minion shacks Quaver scurried out with a dopey grin on his mug.

"Of for the love of—" Gnarl managed to grumble before he was washed out by Quaver's enthusiasm.

"Sire! It would seem those elves you rescued have sent a delegation! They even brought gifts to show their gratitude!

"Oh they can wait! If they're as grateful as you say then they'll be patient enough for our master to learn to burn their faces off if they get uppity."

As the two minions began to bicker, the overlord began to think about his current circumstances as they stood. He didn't understand a word any of the elves had said, and it was mutual vice versa as well. They didn't even understand Quaver who, like Gnarl, demonstrated knowledge of many a language when the minion master was at loathe to even try to talk to them by choice; it was tempting to order him to do it just because he could, but that seemed a little mean for the shinobi to do so. It was more than obvious they had something in mind if they came to him, but what? As for his magic training...

"... Eh. I could do that later." It wasn't like he had something better to do immediately anyway. Though even he had to admit it was sorely tempting to jump right to it.

"Hey Quaver, where are they now?"

XVX

Meanwhile, Konoha, Elemental Nations

It was one thing if there was a crack in the defenses that someone either made or took advantage of. Normally it would be played off as a shameful embarrassment to be washed away with the liberal use of sake when it was all said and done, situation or no. However with a missing jinchuriki, two presumed dead chunin, several dead anbu and several acres of forest land being nothing more than ash at this point, no amount of alcohol could even try to touch the sobering sight of a gaping hole of melted stone in Konoha's almost famous walls. As to how no one noticed it was there, rather why none of the sentries on duty sounded the alarm either when the tunnel was forcibly made or even simply discovering it in the morning light, there was a painfully simple answer: they were dead.

The entire retinue on duty at the time had been ambushed, though by what no one knows. Whatever got to them seemed to have been bestial by nature judging from the disturbingly deep claw marks and gouges on both the guards' bodies and the stonework itself. Worse yet they were as fast and proficient as they were brutal in making sure there were no witnesses or stragglers to warn Konoha proper of the assault.

Worse yet there hadn't been any news before or after the incident to even guess at who was pulling the strings or had performed the overall deed to begin with. Whomever was behind this was an unknown in the purest sense of the word with all but three clues as to their identity: the dead bodies of foreign men and women recovered from the depths of a previously unknown manmade cavern network belonging to an equally unknown faction that just as few confounding traces of themselves, the reports given by the survivng anbu members who fought int he excursion against an unknown creature, and a... creature caught in one of the Inuzuka clan's bear traps...

It presumably got in during the night of the infiltration. Judging from the claws and its teeth it was likely one of the culprits or perhaps _the_ culprit that slaughtered the guards on the wall. Regardless, it was only found when Nara clansmen had enlisted those of the Inuzuka clan to investigate a mass slaughter of deer on their property. The creature in question was evidently hunting the deer and fell into the trap meant to kill the few bears, and the occasional tiger that snucked out of training ground forty-four, that resided within Konoha's walls. Needless to say it didn't survive, though it had done its damndest to get out of it despite its critical wounds and surprisingly acidic blood which ate away at the metal contraption.

As much as he hated to do so, with no news as to who was behind this, foreigners in their home and strange creatures of phenomenal power wreaking havoc on the slightest of whims, it was obvious that his only chance to find out the reasoning behind the attack is to leave the Elemental Nations for the world beyond. He had to venture deep into strange lands where his spy network's reach only extended to a fraction of the port cities that regularly did business with the Land of Fire at the utter most. As such he needed a team if he was to have any hope toward resolving this quickly, not the mention survive unprecedented dangers and situations that may crop up...

With any luck he would find Naruto as well while he was out there; like Iruka Umino and his fellow instructor Mizuki, Naruto was missing as well. With any hope he was alive, well, an unscathed if he was truly out there and not closer to home, a runaway during the attack if not a prisoner. If not... he could only wish that he only suffered a quick death as a worst case scenario regardless of the circumstance.

"Lord Jiraiya, are you ready?"

With a deep breath and a quiet sigh the white haired man closed his eyes as he faced the direction of the far off sea from Konoha's grand gate.

"Yeah. Let's get going."

XVX

Lair, unknown lands

Being the closest thing they had to either a throne room or a court room, it was only natural Naruto's shack was where they received the small delegation of elves which consisted of the elf from before, the one who tried to talk to him, a pair of others whom he had not met before... and the one who was blinded in the apparent master bedroom of the keep. All of whom had gotten rid of their once grungy clothing in exchange for the finer wear their once captors wore, albeit with far less ostentatious decorations; some of it looked to have been forcibly removed, leaving but patchwork from scrap cloth in its wake where a hole should be. While the two he was relatively unfamiliar with wore what looked to be dinner suits, the one he had met simply wore blue robes that had some of its gold filigree intact. As for the woman, underneath her bun-tied white hair she wore a fine black cloth to mask her missing eyes. Liken her companion, she wore a dress. A "ballroom dress" if he remembered correctly when he was passing by that "Western" clothing shop he occasionally passed by on his way back to his apartment from the academy. For all he knew it was just an overpriced dress the owner was just trying to hawk. Other than the diaphanous qualities of the dress that showed a faint shadow of her limbs, the only difference it had to those dresses was the frilly wide collar that tried to overcome the elf's head in both height and width. Either way it was beyond noticeable even if most of her head, bun-tied hair included, covered most of it.

At any rate however what truly caught and held the majority of his attention however was what almost reverently was held in the lead elf's cupped hands, a vial with a wide rounded base that tapered to a long neck. Within its glass exterior was a strange clear concoction that churned as if it is a carbonated drink. Even so, atop its long neck, atop a stopper barely concealed within the glass itself, was what appeared to be an upside down shot glass of all things snugly resting on top of the bottle. With curiosity he watched as the man meticulously whipped the shot glass off the stopper and pulled out the cork with the same hand that now held the miniature cup firmly between two fingers. Once it was uncorked he pour the contents into the glass till it was nearly full. Once it was full, near to the brim in fact, he carefully held out the 'drink', offering it with a bow whilst pointedly ignoring Gnarl's suspicious squinted gaze.

"Well, as obvious as it is, it seems they come bearing gifts, sire!"

"Now hold on a minute!" Gnarl interrupted before Naruto could even take a intrigued step forward. "Who's to say it isn't poisoned now? Or some kind of mind control serum for that matter!" he growled suspiciously as he glared at both the offer cup, the elf and his companions at mindful intervals. His attention soon shifted solely to the lead elf who stood straight in response, his brow furrowed in annoyance as if he had discerned the gist of what Gnarl had said in spite of the language barrier between them all.

Rather than verbally respond to him, most likely because it would've been lost on the three plus the minion guards that watched them, he instead turned to the minion with half a step and offered _him_ the concoction instead whilst glaring at him with mild contempt which was responded to in kind by the minion master. After a minutes into their contest Gnarl broke away first with a grumble as he turned to and pointed at Quaver. "You drink it first!"

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm still your superior. Not only that but we need a taste tester anyway!"

"Even if that was the case, why not get let of the _other_ minions have the _honor_? I'm not the punching bag any more you know!" Quaver bit back.

Immediately the two minions launched into a near indecipherable argument amongst themselves with one attempting to be louder than the other, thus trying to dominate the conflict in their favor short of resolving to violence. It was for not however as the Overlord took matters into his own hands by striding forth, effectively shutting the two up save for Gnarl's half formed sputterings in a bid to stop the blond from grabbing the shot glass, pulling down his scarf and chugging the contents in one go. Sadly he began to regret his impulsive decision even as Gnarl clasped his claws over his mouth in horror whilst Quaver gawped at the scene, his skin paling as Gnarl's paranoid opinions rang loudly in his mind.

For better or worse he paid no heed to the strange feeling of his mind being awash with strange new words seemingly borne from nowhere. No, it was the taste of rotten eggs, far gone berries and perhaps week old fish cooked into a sludgy stew that now swam down his throat in a straight path to his stomach that had his undivided attention. What made it worse was that, as much as he wanted to, his gag reflex and any other natural urge to expel the fluid was in fact gagging, choking or otherwise paralyzed until the very last droplets of the deceptive drink settled into his stomach. Thankfully however the after taste, though still horrible, was short lived as he handed back the shot glass with the same look belonging to someone who lived through a disaster on pure luck alone yet was too traumatized to celebrate such a feet.

Undoubtedly seeing this and perhaps knowing what befall him, the bald elf offered what consolidation he could with a gentle pat to the shoulder.

"Do you understand me now?" the elf suddenly asked as he withdrew his hand in time for the rogue shinobi to jilt his head up in obvious shock.

"Huh? Wha—wait I thought—..." At a loss for words Naruto fell silent as he tried to order his thoughts around this newfound breakthrough.

"What the..." Gnarl muttered as both he and Quaver looked on his apparent puzzlement, the former stroking his beard in thought. When the Overlord didn't speak up again the elf took it upon himself to break the silence that had ensued.

"The Potion of Tongues," the elf calmly announced.

"For what it's worth I apologize for the taste," he said with a brief bow. "While it is not the most... savory of options, there are times when it's more prudent to take a shortcut rather than endure what could take weeks to learn, if not years, don't you agree?"

Naruto didn't think twice in his response. "No I don't."

"Oh?" A curious if not imperious brow rose up.

"Yeah! I mean, if you took a short cut to get what you want then you really didn't earn it!" He was about to continue when Gnarl interrupted him out of the blue.

"Master, you do realize we can't understand you, do you?"

"Huh?" He turned to the minion master in his attracted confusion, missing the quarter smirk on the elf's face which was soon lost when he directed his gaze toward the minion.

At the grunt of puzzlement Gnarl spoke up once more. "I can understand if that... _potion_ has miraculously given you the ability to understand them now, sire, assuming of course it isn't a side effect of being poisoned of course... but, in case you haven't realized it yet master, you're speaking their language as well!"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked him.

"See! Can't you hear it?"

"Uh... no?" Naruto replied while cocking his head to the side in confusion. In the meantime Gnarl squinted his eyes shut and palmed his face while muttering to himself. His, the Overlord's, attention was broken however when the same hand that patted him returned and measurably clapped itself on his shoulder to draw notice to the elf in question.

"It's something of a side effect of the potion, the inability to differentiate languages at first. Just take a moment to think about what you wish to say before saying it."

Taking his advice to heart the shinobi looked to Gnarl once more in time to see the minion squint a heated glare at the elf behind the young overlord. As much as he wanted to simply blurt out 'can you understand me now' he instead ran through what he wanted to say over and over in his mind to get an idea in the off chance that perhaps he wasn't getting something. Interestingly enough he did. It was a strange feeling to know the words he knew by heart by having spoken them his entire life, and then there were the words he 'knew' that had no such history at all beyond minutes prior. In fact it was almost confusing and mind jarring at once as he somehow manage to 'pluck' the words he wanted to apply from the words he didn't want to use.

"Can you understand me now?"

"Yes I can, master," Gnarl readily replied with a frown.

"Bleh! Oh that is most _foul!_ "

Both heads snapped to Quaver as the minion dry heaved in lieu of attempting to spit out whatever he consumed. It took a moment before Naruto spotted a familiar shot glass clutched in the minion's claw.

"You know that time Giblet found those mushrooms on that one island? The one with the amazons and snakes? And then tossed them into the soup we were making at the time for supper? It tastes like _that!_ "

The false heaving gave way to lolling his tongue out and running his free claw along it in an effort to 'wipe away' the taste. In the meantime however he half minded handed the shot glass back to the elf without looking. Effortlessly Helos took it from the minion's grasp.

"It's just _really_ awful!" Quaver whined as the taste abated.

"And he's suddenly spouting jibberish as well..." Gnarl then heavily sighed. "Fine! You all win!" he suddenly declared as he begrudgingly trudged over to the elf and snatched the readied shot glass from the offered hand; he didn't particularly heed the narrowed eyes of the dark elf nor the indignation of his companions witness to the act. It was only made nominally worse when he tilted his head back and unabashedly chugged the shot in one go before shoving the glass back into the elf's hand as he unapologetically smacked his lips. Unlike the other two before him he didn't flinch or recoil in the slightest.

"Uh... Gnarl?"

 _"_ _Burp!"_

Smacking his lips once more, the old minion pounded on his chest in a light manner, coaxing another yet smaller belch from him to follow the first. "Right. We're all 'poisoned' now. Let's get this over with."

XVX

By rights the official meeting would have started earlier the moment the room was rearranged into a sort of meeting hall consisting of what was anything that wasn't a table, which was now lumped together to form a 'long table', and a chair had been pushed aside to make room. But it didn't. Once Helos spotted that blackboard Gnarl had been using earlier, which the minion hadn't bothered to move out of the room since the last time he used it, the elf wiped away the crude drawings with his sleeve and began to etched in finer depictions of a much smaller version of Gnarl's map. Or rather it was of an enlarged island now decorated with various dotes and names to go with them. Only two names stood above the others do to their bold lettering, Noircî and Renouvelé. Just when it seemed like he was done he paused, glaring at something on the board despite nothing written in the blank spot of his particular interest nor even scratched onto it. Whatever it was that concerned him ultimately ended without any note greater than his turning around to face them.

"If you would pardon our late introductions, I am Helos Edgewood," he said with a small bow. "Headmaster of the Chiselle Academy. Or at least former headmaster thanks to the raid on our home... Regardless, may I present to you," he held an arm out, palm facing up, to the sole woman of the group, "Adelia Majeau, Magistrate of Chiselle." Upon being announced the blinded elf turned in the direction of the overlord and his minions and nodded her head in a bow. Unfortunately for her, due to her lack of sight she nodded at a gap to Gnarl's left and Naruto's right. Still, in response Naruto raised a shy hand up in a wave. It was only halfway through the act that he remembered she couldn't see the gesture, and in his embarrassment he let loose a mutilated "hi" long before he could consciously control himself.

"Uh... I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki!" he offered in return as he beamed a smile. It faltered into a grimace however do to his newfound awkwardness when he realized he was smiling at a blind woman. It regained a fraction of its former confidence though when the magistrate, former or not, smiled at him. Or rather at his general direction as he attention shifted over to what the overlord could only assume to be the space above his left shoulder.

A deliberate cough however not only caught everyone's attention and ruined the mood. With a pointed but silent glare Helos shifted a glance to the rather indignant pair of elves whom sat at either side of Adelia. "You're more than capable of introducing yourselves," he stated in a low matter-of-fact fashion.

At this the pair bristled.

"Introduce ourselves, to an outsider?!"

"Yes. An outsider who ultimately freed everyone. Unless of course either one of you had made a more... significant contribution rather than taking the less arduous path, again." He didn't dignify them with any further response. Instead he pointedly ignored them by turning around to 'inspect' the board for reasons kept to himself. In the meantime however the pair of elves fumed about their predicament, one of whom biting his lip and drumming his fingers whilst the other fidgeted slightly in his chair.

"This is not the time for egos."

All eyes went to the magistrate, her own 'gaze' neutrally looked forward in its natural setting so as to not favor anyone in this matter.

"But my lady—!"

Her sightless gaze turned to the one who spoke up. Even without the use of eyes her stern glare was piercing enough to cow the dark elf into submission. "Now is not the time for serve _either_ of your egos, regardless of the circumstances." Her pointed 'glare' shifted to the other elf whom likewise shrank beneath it. She even sent a reprimanding 'glance' to the headmaster as he intently looked at the board. Even so, he uncomfortably shifted under the 'gaze.' When it was over her sight slowly returned to the overlord. Sadly however she was looking more at Quaver than Naruto in this instance. "I apologize for their squabbling. They've haven't been on the best of terms with one another even before... the raid on our home," she explained, her voice however faltered at the end as she tried to repress an all too visible shudder to no avail. Her hand even curled and lifted from its place of rest as if to make for the blindfold only to halt itself and nearly slam itself back into place.

"Yes, well, that's all well and 'good' but what exactly brings you here? If it's all just to say "thank you" then you could've left some gifts at the door and be off with yourselves! You're wasting both the master's time _and_ training with this blithering," Gnarl loathingly drawled out, earning a glare from almost everybody in the room. The only ones who weren't staring at him were Quaver, who was generally unaffected beyond a slight scowl, and Naruto who screwed his eyes shut as he groaned; new as he was to... meetings, official functions, whatever, even he knew there was a bit more tact involved here!

"Gnarl..."

Of their newfound company the magistrate was the least reactive. If anything she became more silent as she stared in Gnarl's general direction.

"My apologies," she crisply offered with political neutrality. "I did not realize nor considered we were interrupting anything of importance." She turned her head in the overlord's direction. "As such allow me to get to the heart of the matter. We wish to hire you to be our escort to La Rochelle."

"Huh?"

"What are you going on about?" Gnarl grumbled, his eyes narrowed upon the blinded elf. Regardless, she shifted her attention to Helos' direction.

"Helos."

Unbidden, the headmaster turned with the intent of claiming their attention and claim it he did as he gestured to the island.

"Allow me to enlighten you to the history of the "Dark" Elves, Noircî as we prefer to be called, so you have a better understanding of what is happening as it stands."

"Joy..."

"Gnarl!"

A heated glare was cast at Gnarl who returned it with lukewarm irritation. Both abated somewhat when a fed Naruto finally took decisive action once more by bopping the minion on the head.

"I want to know what's going on!" Naruto huffed while the minion rubbed the sore spot on his head. As for Helos, having been satisfied, Quaver being amused on his part, returned to the board.

"To give a brief overview of our history, our people have been a long suffering society of the rejected, the damned, and the accused. In spite of our heritage we were ejected from our original homeland for our 'abnormalities' and were force to wander the world for a time. Both out of desire and spite our people had made several attempts to settle in various lands over the centuries that followed our banishment. Sadly however none of them worked thanks to our... 'neighbors' of each time; only a few lasted more than a couple of decades at best."

"Be it a grudge for our cousins, a malicious use of politics, slander or perhaps a genuine lack of abundant resources to share, we were driven out time and again from where we tried to call home at the time by other races and kingdoms. It wasn't until we took to the seas with a bleary hope of finding some uninhabited island that our situation had improved any. Yet even after establishing ourselves and making this land our home in preferred isolation we were set upon by our old problems, though mitigated somewhat by an ocean to deter the occasional 'ill informed' crusade, or worse yet slavers... but alas," he sighed, "were it just them then we would've been happy enough to set off to the other settlements of our brethren for refuge the moment we settled matters in the fort."

Adelia fidgeted rather uncomfortably at the mention of the fort. Helos, with his back turned, didn't notice it unlike the others. Even the pair of elves at her side shared a look of concern.

"No, our problem is much more domestic," Helos continued as he pointed at and tapped the space directly underneath "Renouvelé." He then took the chalk piece and began to draw straight lines from the dot related to the name to various other places. It took a moment for Naruto to realize Chissele was one of those connected dots.

"It was a while before anyone discovered the mana vents built into the land," the elf elaborated. "It took us even longer to trace them back to their point of origin..." He pursed his lips as he paused. He then shook his head. "Regardless. Hoping to regain some of our former glory, a great number had flocked to Bordeaux to absorb the rampant mana in its environment. And while some still do, that is another matter entirely. Generation after generation were born within the proximity of Bordeaux, each one being affected more and more by the mana present in Bordeaux and changing because of it. While yes they achieved what they had hoped to obtained, our now blue skinned... 'kin,' the newly named Renouvelé, whom in recent century declared themselves an autonomous state, are prisoners of their own designs..." He paused for a moment as if considering something. "In other words," he spoke up once more as he turned around to face them. On his face was a severe frown. "They would literally die if they are separated from a mana enriched environment for a prolonged period of time. Hence the need for specialized armor and the canisters filled with concentrated mana."

"Yes, yes, that's very interesting," Gnarl grumbled, again earning several glares that he shrugged off with annoyed indifference. "Let's just get down to the chase here. Why should _we_ help _you_?" he growled. "We're busy enough as it is."

"Evidently so," one of the unnamed elves sarcastically snipped. A stern glance silenced him and his friend from commenting further however. She then carefully turned in the direction of Naruto as opposed to Gnarl. While her 'gaze' wasn't accurately on him, the solemnity of it was no less unnerving.

"I'll admit, the promise of payment is more of a formality than a necessity..."

"I knew it!" Naruto didn't even bother looking as he whacked the minion on the head. "Oof!"

She was silent for a moment before she continued. "I may not have witnessed it but I do know Farlen escaped from the fort. He was hardly quiet about it when you slain the lieutenants left behind to ensure the garrison performed its function as a watch post when the garrison deployed elsewhere. While I may not be sure as to whether or not he successfully fled to an encampment of his comrades, a patrol or even retreated back to Bordeaux itself, but I would be beside myself if I knowingly left you behind to suffer the possibility of a retaliatory strike." She seemed to deflate within her seat before bowing her head. "Please forgive me for attempting to bribe you. I only wished to help ensure your safety, even if there's no guarantee of danger."

At this Gnarl derisively scoffed. Though he did flinch when Naruto swiveled his squinted gaze upon him, that didn't stop him from talking however. "Even if they did find us, if those fancy tarts are the worst of it then we've got nothing to worry about. By the abyss, we might even scare them off if we fling dirt at them!" Gnarl managed to cackle.

"Even for elves they seemed rather squeamish to be honest," Quaver added with a wistful sigh. He then brought up an egg shaped orb of gold from underneath his end of the table. Encasing the 'egg' were four evenly spaces columns hugging the sides of the orb. Near the top of each curving column the bar peeled away and fanned out in the design of a leaf, veins, stem and all. There were even leaf filigrees were etched upon its open sides, each one attached to a stenciled vine which slowly climbed up to the top of the rounded point of the orb. "They do know to make beautiful trinkets however!" he sighed as he lovingly rubbed it. His claw was caressing it still when one of the unnamed pair began to sputter rather uncontrollably.

"Oh what's gotten into you this time?" the other one groaned to his companion.

Immediately the other elf jabbed an accusing finger at the egg in Quaver's possession much to everyone's confusion. "THAT WAS MY GRANDMOTHER'S!"

Paled faced at the accusation, the minion slowly lowered the item back under the table. "Uh... I found it?" he offered with a cheesy, if not shaky, grin.

"LIKE HELL!" the elf challenged as he shot up from his seat. A second later he was bound in ethereal chains seemingly made of dulled amethyst light. There was even a gag made from the same substance which now gagged him. To top it all off a set of chains reached up from the chair and ensnared the dark elf. With a yank they forcibly seated him back into the seat despite his muffled protests and wriggling.

"That is enough," Helos sternly commanded.

Amidst the mild shock of those present, Naruto and his minions was curious enough to look whilst the rest were concentrating on the bound elf. The headmaster's hand was outstretched, fingers splayed but his index finger was prominently pointed at the supposedly nameless Noircî. " _Magic_ ," he thought upon realization. Immediately his mind went to the Tower Heart, then to the mere idea of him holding a ball of fire in his hand. That idea then it morphed into him spewing that fire from the palm of his hand in a continuous blast! But was that all he could do with magic?

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall Gnarl saying there was a limit per se beyond how much mana a person could use at a time. If he could learn how to form a better clone then surely he could learn how to... shoot lightning out of his hand? He didn't know but the sheer magnitude of ideas now spawning in his head was almost making him dizzy on the spot as they continued to grow in number. Each and every one promising the possibility of using more awesome and fantastical feats! Then his eyes widened in realization in regards to the technique he learned from the previously forgotten Forbidden Scroll. Before he learned of the Shadow Clone technique he ended up skimming through at least a handful of jutsus he couldn't make heads or tales from. Surely those had to be imagined, experimented with and finally declared workable enough to be taught, right? The Shadow Clone technique was no doubt one such product, so the same could be said with magic too!

Hell, if he could do that, he can easily kick that red thing's ass!

Before he realized it he opened his mouth, not that he regretted it of course. "I'll do it!"

"Hm?"

Aside from the bound elf, and ignoring a mortified Gnarl's "oh no", everyone's attention diverted to Naruto as he pointed his finger out at a stoically curious Helos, his mouth continuing to jabber on without him thinking about it.

"I'll join you guys in going to that place! But I want one thing though!"

"And that is?" The elf's brow was pointedly raised almost like Iruka when he was calm but serious in the classroom.

"I want to learn how to use magic!" he brightly declared with a beaming smile. "I'll be kicking that demon's and his cronies' asses before you know it! Believe it!"

They all stared at him for a moment. The first one to break away was Helos whom looked to Adelia. Her own face was blank as if her own thoughts seemingly at a pace that what hints she could convey weren't able to form. Slowly but surely however a small gentle smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Very well then," he announced as he returned his attention to the overlord. "We'll begin as soon as you're ready."

Naruto was practically bouncing in his face while Gnarl turned away with a claw palming his face.

"Might I _suggest_ though is that we begin _after_ we make our exodus though, don't you agree."

"Sure!"

Gnarl's hard groan was largely ignored as plans were being discussed.

"It's the elf alliance all over again," he groused pitifully to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Six: Cross country encounters

Wilderness, Notre Repos, days later

It is hardly a surprise to say that training in any shape or form was often sparse when on the move. It especially applies to individuals who are often tasked with the need for scouting ahead to ensure the safety of the group of refugees, the occasional night of guard duty and having to perform quite a bit of exploration to find any land markers their maps had made use of as since they elected not to take a proper path to the city of Versailles. While a fair few amongst the refugees grumbled and ached about it they were more than happy to navigate fords, rummage through forests and even climb mountain walls with their bare hands whenever Naruto ever came back with news of a camp consisting of the Renouvelé being here or there. Doubly so since the Renouvelé had made it increasingly clear through observation that they had an aversion towards nature and all its dirt covered, insect hosting, sweat inducing glory as noted from what few ' conversations', i.e. complaining, he had managed to eavesdrop upon. Still, his training wasn't a _complete_ wash given the circumstances..

As Gnarl had predicted, Naruto had came to learn of the Fireball spell... after beating his head against whatever was convenient at the time while trying to make sense of every little theory, nuance and necessity of magic that couldn't be explain with something as simple as "gut instinct." Likewise Helos shared a similar frustration much to the amusement of what Naruto could only assume were his former students or else neighbors back in Chiselle. Yet the Fireball spell wasn't the first spell granted to him by the Tower Heart much to Gnarl's consternation. No, the Fireball had to be learned. What came first, much to Naruto's as well as Helos' more minor surprise was that which was dubbed the Lightning Whip; an arc of mana given physical form of arcing lightning which, as the name suggests, whips its target with such force that an adult humanoid of normal size would be knocked down from the blow. An "instinctual" ability as Helos called it, albeit a more uncommon one according to him: almost every mage or magic user within the history unwittingly started off with an ability lacking 'form' thanks to their lack of training; "force", by far the most common amongst those starting out, lacked a physical form onto itself and yet affected the physical world as if 'someone' was shoving against whatever this spell had struck against. But that was neither here nor there really. All that really matters is that he did it! He can now use mana and had a base understanding of it! With enough effort he could make new spells! Wards to... well, ward of fire! If nothing else then he can use items used to focus mana into specific spells if push came to shove!

And like Gnarl had said, "oh the enemies [he] would slaughter!" It was a little dark for his tastes but he could get behind it! Besides, he had a score to settle with a demon!

To that end he wasn't going to place all his bets on his newfound ability to use mana however. He still had chakra too. Unless he was missing something, and he probably was, the use of spells generally boiled down to trial and error no matter what anyone did. With chakra however there were specific hand signs to not only be aware of but to be used in a precise fashion or else the entire process was rendered useless, a lesson he learned the hard way unfortunately both with his henge, his substitution and even the shadow clones. Then again the same could be said with spells, only with a greater propensity of exploding in someone's face as opposed to chakra's equivalent of running face first into a wall when one failed. That or said failed spell could do something completely unexpected like turning someone into a sheep... Gnarl got a kick out of that one.

At any rate...

Thankfully he had the foresight to bring with him the Forbidden Scroll... He ended up cursing himself for it as well when he had a moment alone with it at the edge of the their current campsite.

It wasn't until he sat down and began to open it that the latent realization that he had crammed _That Night_ into the back of his mind in favor of pursuing the adventure immediately in front of him: to become strong enough to fight an enemy that was chasing him whilst trying to destroy what was left of the lineage belonging to the Overlord before him. Now though, without the immediate glamour and relative safety of a new life afforded by being an Overlord, he was reminded of what forced him into this position in the first place. He was reminded of learning how the odds of ever being accepted in the Leaf Village were stacked against him from the very start, all thanks to the desperate actions of the Fourth Hokage as his mind quietly puzzled out. Of how Iruka was not only willing to fight for him but give him an honest chance in clearing his name. Of how, even in the face of danger, the anbu attempted to assassinate him all because he stole the very scroll in his hands... of how that even if he did return there was no guarantee that things would go back to normal, demon or no. By being reminded of all this he just felt... overwhelmed. Unable to think really as he shut down and blankly stared at the scroll within his clutches. As such he didn't notice a presence which sat next to him and observed him for some time.

"A token from your own home?" Helos asked, startling Naruto from his melancholy with a near strangled gasp. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you."

"It's alright!" Naruto offered with a strained laugh. "I was just... thinking really hard!" he offered the elf, his laugh continuing even as the once headmaster responded with a noncommittal hum.

"Out of curiosity, may I see that?" the dark elf asked as he studiously pointed at the scroll in Naruto's grasp.

"Huh?" Naruto looked to the scroll to confirm that it was indeed what Helos was pointed at and briefly froze once more with indecision. After what seemed like an eternity for the blond of considering what he wanted to do and if he would even do it, he found his will wanting; as much as he wanted to he couldn't see himself opening the scroll in the immediate future. As such he handed the scroll to the elf who, with a thankful hum, carefully edged it open and began to skim the first portion of its contents, humming again in acknowledgement as he did so.

"I don't believe I've ever read this language before," he admitted offhandedly as his eyes continued to skim the symbols, both the written word and the illustrations amongst other things. With each flick of his eyes it was becoming more and more apparent that he was trying to decipher the entirety of it all through sight alone in conjunction with a puzzling mind.

"It's...!" Naruto attempted to offer only to hesitate as he came to the jolting realization that he had never even heard of a casual reference toward his native language. Did it even had a name? Now that he thought about it, did his newfound companions have a name for theirs? After a brief moment of embarrassment induced panic he hesitantly continued, "the language of my home." His jaw clamped shut as he fought against a forced intake of air to help cover up his awkwardness as he narrowly avoided ending the sentence as a question. It didn't make him any less conscious however when the elf looked over to him with a raised brow. Thankfully he drew his gaze away from the young overlord to once more observe the scroll.

"Would you mind humoring a rather invasive question?" he suddenly asked without looking away from the scroll.

"Uh... sure?" Naruto said out of curiosity.

"While I do not object to teaching you since it was part of our... agreement, why is it, pray tell, you wish to fight a demon of all things?" Slowly he shifted at least half of his stern attention toward Naruto who fidgeted under his scrutiny.

A part of the overlord simply wanted to brush him off, laugh him off, do something to not only get out from answering the question but to get out from under his current teacher's gaze altogether. But then again it would be history repeating itself, him running away from a problem much to his begrudging, bile inducing, self reprimanding chagrin. What good would it do to basically flee from someone who was helping him with an art that he was just beginning to scratch the surface of? Hell, he was a heck of a lot more tolerable and even helpful than some of his teachers back in the academy, Mizuki notwithstanding since he deserved his own little place in Hell now that he thought about it. Besides, for all he knew he may very well need all the help he could get even if it meant beating his head against the wall for the sake of his training alone.

"Would you believe me that... a demon is hunting me?" he awkwardly offered with a cringe of a smile. For better or worse the stoic air of the elf turned to that of open confusion and even bewilderment.

"For what reason, may I ask?"

Naruto shrugged as he looked to the ground. "From what Gnarl told me, my... ancestor basically blew up an entire continent to defeat this demon invasion years ago. Like before even my own grandfather was even born I'm guess. Since then the survivors have been hunting down his descendants, and it's my turn now. This... big red demon ended up killing..." He paused as he considered what Iruka was to him after all they went through... Big brother perhaps? Uncle? Best friend? Aside from the Hokage, Teuchi and Ayame from Ichiraku, Iruka was one of the select few to ever give a legitimate damn about him beyond a professional sense. "... someone really important to me while trying to kill me," he solemnly finished.

The elf quietly observed him for a few moments before quietly offering him "my condolences." As he said it he gently placed his hand on his temporary student's shoulder, earning a glance and a small, worn but grateful smile from Naruto which was hidden away by his scarf. Eventually the two of them resumed where they had left off, each lost in their own little world as they waited the day away whilst the entirety of their group rested for what was deemed to be two more days worth of traveling. Sadly though it wasn't an exact science between the rare patrol of Renouvelé soldiers and the natural barriers of the land.

"Excuse me!"

Both heads turned and curiously regarded the elf that approached them in a hurried jog, armed with nothing but a stolen spear from the ransacked fort. One of the elves whom were on guard duty no doubt. Regardless, of the two his attention was upon Naruto in particular.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," he said as he drew close enough, "but we've been hearing some loud roaring in our part of camp. Could you please check it out?"

With a sigh Naruto got up. "Yeah, sure."

XVX

While it wasn't out of cowardice per se, the Dark Elves in general were more than content to stay within their own camp much like their blue skinned counterparts. In fact it was a bit of an effort to even get a few of them to leave to scavenge for even the essentials like berries or certain mushrooms for food whenever they weren't lucky enough to come across any of the wildlife to hunt. Then again, from what he learned, Chiselle was more of an academy than anything else thanks to the mana vent; a learning community hoping to shepherd a new generation of mages of their own. As such there wasn't much in the way of either fighters or even farmers at most when they were largely content on the supplies delivered by the road. Even then there was but a limited supply of arms and armor for the survivors that either hadn't been taken by the other slaves who had already ran off or hadn't been repurposed by Giblet to better arm the minions. In other words aside from some hunting of game, an armored Renouvelé soldier much like the ones Naruto faced in the fort would easily outmatch the refugees even if they had the advantage of numbers for such a fight. Hence Naruto's scouting duties and, at times, being their guardian when a battle was upon them.

Still it wasn't as if he was doing things on his own though. His minions were more than happy to pick up the slack and take the brunt of each of the few skirmishes they were subject to. The only real downside to them however was that, when compared to him when he took to the trees, they were painfully slow. As such he was forced to walk on the ground with them if he thought that he had need of them. At least the jaunty marching tune they whistled out in unison helped ease his frustration in this case.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment, for the most part at least.

While at first he had thought they were simply hearing things, there was indeed a roar of a beast that sounded off somewhere in the forest's depths, prompting him to investigate it with his minions. Since then it was like navigating a maze, relying only on the rage fueled growls of a beast that either grew louder or dimmer during his blind search for the source.

"While I can appreciate your enthusiasm in braving danger, master, haven't you been on this chase long enough? I'm sure you could go back and convince that layabout into teaching you a few more pointers, sire." Gnarl asked seemingly out of nowhere.

With the sudden introduction of the question and the sheer clarity of it, Naruto, in his surprise, half expected to see Gnarl himself to have appeared before him as if he had teleported there. But no, he didn't. No, Naruto had to remind himself of the Tower Heart and its extensive abilities, one of which allowed Gnarl and Quaver to use it to not only see what he was doing but communicate with him and him alone unlike the now discarded gem 'communicator.' Upon being reminded of that he bit back a sigh.

"No, Gnarl. I'm already out here, I may as well find out what's going on." He then sighed. "Besides that... I'm kind of bored really," he added.

"Hm... yes. They are dragging their feet about, aren't they?" Gnarl muttered. "Well, I suppose a good smiting might help lift your spirits. With any luck you might even pillage a few things and find something either useful or fits your fancy."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he head toward a series of man-sized bushes in the direction of the latest bestial bellow. "Uh-huh," he muttered as he forced his way through the brush. Likewise his minions shouldered their way in too, though not with as much success: he was fairly certain he heard a branch loudly smacked a minion in its face, making it cry out in both surprise and pain much to his own amusement. Before long he had muscled his way through most of the brush that impeded his path. Yet upon doing so he ducked back inside at what he saw on the other side: a Renouvelé camp.

Carefully he pulled apart some of the branches of the bushes that obscured him so he could peak out into the camp, a relatively abandoned one at that with but a few guards on duty. A small one at that which sat at the foot of a snow capped mountain. In the distance there was even a natural rampart leading into the mountain proper, but that wasn't what captured his attention as he observed what he had almost walked into: while not as large as some of the camps he had encountered thus far in regards to personal, from what he could guess by counting the small number of tents present in the camp, an entire field had been dominated with what appeared to be holding pens of a magical nature, their boundaries marked by a pole to represent each corner. While a great many were empty for the time being, some of the cells held quite the assortment of prisoners...

The dark elves were easy to recognize, though they were few in number, at the utter most they occupied two cells at the utter most in modest numbers. But they weren't the sole prisoners there. Beasts of numerous kinds, presumably local, stalked their own cells, some of whom looting loose a low roar. Then there were the... others. Humanoid in shape, mostly at least in regards to the majority of the unusual captives, each one was easily thrice his height at minimum, and those were the short ones! Really, save for one prisoner, each of these giants had predominantly green hides composed of thick scales in some sections, giving these creatures a rocky appearance. Only their chests, feet and some of their arms held a lighter tone of green, bordering on the color of more human flesh really. But what truly awed him was the strange... ornamentation that adorned their bodies, if it could be called that. Steel, metal, bronze, metals of varying kinds looked to have been crafted into the bodies of these creatures to form various symbols and what looked to be tools which were often fused with one arm or both. There were even some who bore undeniable weapons as opposed to a tool, though unlike the colossal hammers and other such craft they looked to have been deliberately broken, not that those with the hammers for arms or other more unusual in comparison tools fared much better. Even so, it was not weapons or tools they solely bore. Aside from what looked to be religious symbols of their own making, some had undeniable plate seared into their skin to act like armor in its varying forms, though such an act seemed more typical amongst their weapon bearing brethren as oppose to the supposed craftsmen amongst the prisoners.

"Oh my! Now that's a sight I haven't seen in so many years! In fact I thought Augres were extinct! Then again I suppose they simply moved out while no one was looking. Or perhaps it's another clan, not that it matters anyway."

"Huh?" Naruto grunted as he carefully scanned his surroundings once more for the few guards on duty.

"Augres," Gnarl reiterated. "Big, powerful, and very good at crafting things! And of course, smashing things as well!" Gnarl cackled. "Smashing aside, they enjoy metal working so much that they graft themselves with whatever they could get their hands on if they thought it would be useful! Oh they would make _excellent_ allies if you can rally them to your cause sire! Granted they may as well put Giblet and his apprentice out of business but such is life!" Gnarl sighed. "Sadly though the only real downside is that they love to worship one of the dwarvern smithing gods. Granted it's what got them started in the first place, but still..." Gnarl sighed more dully this time. "Well, I suppose you can't have everything. Now get to it sire!" he commanded.

"You do realize you just gave the Overlord orders, don't you?" Quaver offered out of the blue.

"I view it more as a motivational kick in the pants really. You won't believe how lazy some of our masters can be!"

"Uh-huh..."

Naruto barely paid them any mind as he carefully snuck as close as he can to one of the cages without abandoning his cover. Once he was close enough to one of the empty cages lining the perimeter he decided to experiment: at first he picked up a rock and tossed it at the apparent wall of transparent pink energy that made up its perimeter. Not only was it repelled but he heard a distinct 'zap' as well. Upon closer inspection of the rock from his spot he found it charred from the experience. In fact he could almost swear it was twitching as well, but he ignored it in the name of further testing. He quickly turned his attention to one of the four rods, or rather one of the two closest to him and tossed another rock at it. Like before the rock bounced off yet there was a clear 'ding' of the rock smacking into the apparent metal. There was another sound too as well, perhaps crackling, yet he wasn't sure. As such in yet another test, after making sure no one was looking, he sent a brown to attack the pillar.

"Gaaah!"

Sadly it met the same fate as the rock in less than a second after taking a swing at it. Thankfully it was stunned rather than killed.

"Hmm... It was a good try my lord, but it appears we may have to seek out the power source for those cages. While it isn't exactly imaginative nor particularly... ideal, I would wager whatever they're using is in the very middle of that cell block. It's a power constraint thing sadly; the farther something is for some magical force field to protect, the greater the strain on anyone or anything projecting it in the first place. If not there then perhaps they're using something with a bit more 'oomph!' compared to most others. Then again I suppose it might be best if you head into the camp first to eliminate the guards first if nothing else. Either way works however."

Groaning, Naruto considered his options: the cells, though colored by magic, were transparent. One stray glance at the right time by a guard whilst he was running about and the alarm would be raised for the entire camp. He wasn't entirely out in the open though. He could hide behind the bodies present, especially the augres and thus operate with some secrecy. On the other hand though if he did go directly to the camp, small though it may be, he had no idea as to exactly how many were in it. Sure there were some guards out in the open, but like with the prison before him it took but one passing glance from a passing or even resting soldier within the camp and he would be made. Worse yet he would be surrounded...

He squinted his eyes shut as he realized he had a third option available: do both!

 _Poof!_

With a triumphant smirk he was about to order his clone to inspect the camp when Gnarl cried out in alarm, his voice crackling like static. "Master, I don't know what you did but the Tower Heart doesn't seem to agree with it!"

"It's starting to rumble as if it were an earthquake sire!"

"Qu-( _Krk!_ )... Clone( _Krrkrle!_ )"

 _Poof!_

With baited breath he waited for Gnarl or Quaver to speak up once again. With each moment they were silent his dread only increased in leaps and bounds as the possibility of something irreparable had happened to both them and the Tower Heart became much more of a very real possibility.

"—caused all that?" Quaver suddenly spoke up as the sound of flesh rubbing on glass whilst polishing it became predominant in his mind.

"I have never seen it react like that! I mean it's not like we just shot it out of a catapult again!" Gnarl groused.

"Master!" Gnarl barked. "While I have no idea as to _what_ happened, the Tower Heart started to react... strangely the moment that... other you popped into existence. As your trusted advisor, I would highly recommend you not do that again in the near future. I'd rather not enlighten you as to how much of a pain this was piecing it back together the first and second time around!"

"Ugh... you'd think Reds of all things could withstand lava!" Quaver groaned.

"Hm. The master certainly wasn't happy upon learning he had to harvest more Red Lifeforce when we tried that stunt..."

"Then again it did prompt him to get rid of that gnome infestation had been plaguing the netherworld after constructing the Battle Rock."

As the two continued to converse with one another in their increasingly anecdotal musings, Naruto not only rolled his eyes but deigned to take what he had deemed to be the safer of the two choices before him. Unfortunately however it took him awhile to find an entrance into the prison that didn't run through the camp, and when he did, it was guarded by a pair of guards maintaining watch over a literal gap in the wall offered by the magical cells. It was only with luck that he got through; from the shadows a thrown knife managed to catch one of the two off guard and surprise the other long enough for his minions to trounce him. Once his opening was secure as it could be, and after stashing the ravaged bodies in the forest, he snuck into the prison with his minions in tow. Sadly however it became rather apparent that the prison was built more like a maze, one which wasn't easily defined as the same problem he had in finding the entrance repeated itself before him. It was only with trial and error that he was able to make any progress. For a brief time he even left some minions behind in certain spots so he could attempt to navigate the maze, like breadcrumbs, yet with only ten minions under his command this idea was barely feasible at best. Thankfully for better or worse the bloodied and battered prisoners barely paid him any mind beyond curious or even awed staring. At the utter most was a snarl or two from the various beast at most was the worse he received, thankfully they weren't loud enough to draw any unwanted attention as he traveled what he hoped was the path to the center.

As it turned out it did.

While his first clue were the three strange stone pillars roughly his height standing in the middle of the 'room,' on a raised dais no less, he at first didn't realize he hadn't realized that he had, for all intents and purposes, stepped into a large 'room' which lacked the tight geometric pattern provided the very poles that both lined the 'hallway' and the prison itself. In fact he had to blink and squint to make sure there weren't any polls, much less blinding pink walls, and even then he didn't dare to do anything more than carefully shuffle his way forward lest he smack into another wall by accident, again. As such it wasn't until he was halfway to the stone pillars that, upon closer inspecting, bore intricate yet obviously ancient designs that either glowed blue, red or yellow from within each marking.

"Could those be...? They are! Oh those pointy eared... It wasn't enough for them to steal the Tower Heart but to steal the Tower Objects as well? Gah!"

"Huh?"

Whilst Gnarl was muttering to himself, mostly along the lines of "come on" or "you can do it," Quaver answered in his place. "Much like the Tower Heart, the Tower Objects are also relics belonging to the Overlords, sire! Those objects specifically can increase your store of mana to smite your foes! To make you hardier against those whom would try to be your doom! To allow you to command more minions to carry forth your will! The classic trifecta! Oh you are well on your way toward writing your own chapter in the legacy of your ancestors sire! Haha!"

"Sweet!" Naruto exclaimed as he pumped his arm. Then he blinked as a sudden thought occurred to him. "Uh... does this mean I have to drag this back to the hideout?!" he groaned as he slumped in place. Even without the refugees and the minions, it was almost a week back to the Lair! And that was assuming he didn't get lost either.

"No! Hold on! Come on," Gnarl crooned. "I know you got more than enough power too... Ah ha! There! Look, master!"

Indeed before him, emerging from the soil as if it were tunneling straight from beneath it, was the very same platform that transported him to the abandoned township of Chiselle. It wasn't alone either as two mounds of dirt and stone pushed their way to the surface and cracked themselves open to reveal tunnels. From the tunnels came a light brown light as well as a distinct red aura which occupied their own tunnel. "And here I thought we would have been needing to find another pit of power like the Netherworld to do this again," Gnarl pleasantly sighed.

"Behold! The Waypoint Gate and the Minion Gates! As you may have learned, the waypoints act as a magical means to transport your magnificent presence to and from certain locations. Likewise, minions can and will drop off items of interest to them so they can be safely stored within your Lair! As for the Minion Gates, well, only minions can transport themselves through them. While minions do get along well with one another, they do prefer their own little passageways rather than sharing the same tunnel."

"It's to prevent jamming issues really," Quaver offered.

"Hm, yes. Tragically we lost quite a few masters when the minions crammed themselves inside those tunnels while trying to get to them."

Once again Naruto rolled his eyes as he sent his minions forth, and eagerly they obeyed. Soon enough they almost effortlessly lifted the stolen pillars and dutifully transported them to the Waypoint Gate. One by one they were placed onto the pad with one being placed onto it at a time. Even so it was barely a second before the Tower Objects swiftly disappeared in a flash of light. It was barely a moment longer after that when he felt a rather startling but not unpleasant set of changes shocking his body with newfound life. In his awe he looked to his hands and for a split moment he could almost swear he could tell the difference of what his limited pool have mana had been as well as a sense of certainty towards his supposedly increased vitality. On a whim he turned his attention to the gates belonging to the minions, waiting to supplement his ten minions with reinforcements to replace the fallen. With a hand curled upward and lifted, he called forth three more browns and two reds to join his entourage.

"Oh!" Gnarl cooed. "We're shaping up to be quite the warband now!"

The sound of something big and heavy rushing by drew his attention toward what looked to have been a large wolf bounding past him at a safe distance. Likewise a number of other animals began to rumble their way through the prison labyrinth... or rather the forest of spires now that there was certainly as lot less pink in plain sight between the rods. It was also a fact the prisoners themselves were beginning to notice in earnest as they themselves either wandered through the now missing walls to ensure the validity of their situation or else were already running away much like the now freed beasts. As for the others, the augres being a prime example, they began to advance on the camp with a more than obvious malicious intent in their stride. A stride that broke into an enraged run once a flare shot up from the camp itself.

As they charged with ferocious yells, the flare itself exploded like an enlarged firework. Yet unlike its comparative counterpart the colorful sparks didn't disintegrate within the span of a few seconds. Rather they lurched forth in arching directions to form a hollow circle. Once the ring was complete a series of arching lines descended into the hollow inside. In a matter of moments, one by one these arching lines met the bottom half of the circle, forming an arching collection of Vs from top to bottom. Even so, whilst the last of the Vs was being formed a flash of light erupted before Naruto and from it emerged what appeared to be a Renouvelé mage wearing an open robe of gold and silver over his cloth suit. As opposed to having a canister of mana attached to his back, it looked have if his headpiece was modified to have a smaller variant fitted over his mouth like a respirator.

"This had better be important!" he roared at no one in particular, his back turned to Naruto as if he hadn't noticed his nor his minions' presence. In fact it seemed he was so blinded by rage he hadn't noticed the rampaging augres laying siege to the camp nor the ones lumbering towards him when his screaming caught their attention. In fact he seemed rather content with screaming at some nonexistent figure he must've assumed would've been standing right where he was facing when the blue elf first appeared. "Catching these self mutilating beasts is _FAR_ FROM EASY! WE'RE LOSING MEN ASSAULTING THEIR STRONGHOLD AS WE SPEAK SO AGAIN, THIS HAD BETTER BE—..." It was then the reality of his situation had dawned upon him. With a start the elf snapped his head in the direction of the approaching giants whose eyes were aflame with murderous thoughts. "No... No!"

In newfound panic he stumbled back as he began to murmur what sounded like a half formulated spell, a necessity for some spells in order to encourage concentration on a caster's part amongst other things. Whatever he was trying to cast, an escape or a desperate counter attack, Naruto saw to it that he wouldn't succeed despite the growing bile in his throat. As such the browns tackled the elf and began to pelt him with their weapons and claws whilst the reds eagerly set him ablaze. As this was happening the closest of the augres reared back a fist of molded iron as it readied for a doubtlessly powerful strike. As it came closer Naruto called the minions back. Once they were cleared from the elf the strike came.

... The blow from the augre was powerful enough to leave a plume of dirt and dust in its wake. Once it was clear it was evident that all that was left of the elf's limbs that which was sprouting from the newly made crater like macabre weeds...

Naruto stared in quite awe until movement from one of the augres drew his attention it. Like with the elf the giant was approaching him. Unlike with the elf its stride was nowhere as aggressive. Once it was close enough the augre halted itself and simply stared at the overlord, observing him. Then, as if coming to a conclusion, knelt down and bowed much to Naruto's confusion.

"Uh, Gnarl?"

"Ah," Gnarl cooed, "how it warms my little black heart to see the augres remembering their old place again!"

"Huh?"

"Let's just hope there's no power crazed emperors this time around..."

"What are you talking about?"

 **A/N: For what it's worth I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Happy Holidays everyone!**

Gnarl's Overlord Lessons! #1

(Soon to be ex) Lair(!)

While he was more than happy to not only attribute the concept of dancing toward those effeminate elves and lousy so called do-gooders, but there were times he was but a few steps from outright dancing himself! Oh it was as if the Overlords were returning to their glory days when they had kingdoms, armies, and dead enemies as far as the eye could see! Perhaps there was hope yet into molding the current overlord into a more _ideal_ one! But he wasn't holding his breath about it. Then again he was fairly young. Opportunities to give him a proper... push in the 'right' direction were bound to happen! Until then he would simply have to wait and see...

That and educate him as well regardless of what the minion master hoped for or was suspicious of, in a good sense of course. Good for him more specifically.

With that in mind he spent perhaps a good hour or two searching his old hoard for his notes and his books while the young overlord attended to his own interests before being recalled back to the lair. From there, after being fed by that wuss of a minion, Gnarl managed to shepherd the young master into his quarters before having him sit down at a table with a few open books upon it and dragging the chalkboard up once again. Like before its surface was scribbled upon with little notes and crude depictions of both the Overlord insignia, the Three Pointed Crown, and of the augres as well as a few other non-minion creatures. There was even a diagram of a room, a maze rather, too.

"While you as the Overlord have every right to say you want to live in a giant tower to scare people off, a grand castle to ward off entire armies, or even a tomb because you happen to like the smell of moss, allow me to introduce you to the concept of a dungeon!"

"By definition such a structure would typically be an underground cell block much like the fort you raided, usually found underneath a castle or, well, a fort. But royalty aren't the ones who have a monopoly on the idea. And though it would be... conceited to think so, I would still dare say they all got the idea from Lord Momonga! " Gnarl then snapped a stick he was using as a pointer against a skeletal visage underneath the crown.

"Who?"

"Basically one of your ancestors, sire," Gnarl readily replied. "Practically the authority of dungeon building and management back in the day. A god even in comparison! Ah but that was then." The stick moved away so it could rest within his grasp.

"As you may have noticed the Augres have readily accepted you as their new lord, sire! This is in fact because they, like a number of other races, have had dealings of one kind or another with the vast majority of your predecessors. In fact a grand number of them used to work under your ancestors, including the augres for quite some time! But sadly like with minions they too tend to... migrate elsewhere when someone around to tell them what to do. Unlike minions though a number of these ingrates don't exactly comb back when their found! Their loss I'm afraid. Especially if you have to remind them who's better in a fight!"

"Anyway. As I've said before, and as you had witnessed, augres possess great strength! Perfect for combat! Great for metal working! But best of all they can help carve out a dungeon for you underneath the ground and pretty it up for you if you so wish! A fortress of stone that wouldn't be easily accessed by those pesky hero types and assassins, and the occasional annoying adventurer looking for gold hoards I'm afraid. In fact they'd probably prefer it if you did as they aren't all that fond of forging out in the open if they could help it. It's a blacksmithing thing I'm afraid."

"Why would I want a dungeon though?" Naruto asked with a frown. In response Gnarl shrugged rather nonchalantly.

"I'm merely letting you know that it's a possibility, master. If I may continue though..."

"Regardless of where you choose to call your home or make your own, think of dungeon making as an... experiment toward how you would like your things arrayed. Where to place the guard rooms, the barracks, the kitchen and so on. If you want you could essentially make it an underground vault to stash all your ill gotten gains, or, oh ho, the more original definition of a dungeon for your more _troublesome_ prisoners! Oh you could build traps to keep people out! Or keep them IN!" He began to sqwee as he practically hopped in place whilst thinking of the boundless possibilities at hand.

"It doesn't even have to be one level sire! You could build your dungeon as deep as you can! The grounds the limit sire!"

Naruto could only blankly stare at the minion master as he turned around and began to scribble what could very well be his fantasy dungeon on the blackboard. As Gnarl began to ramble to him, Naruto got up and head out the door to get back to the camp.

"—and the giant crossbows would all the trained in one single spot in case the prisoner somehow got out! Oh! And explosives on the stalactites just in case he got past them!"


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Seven: Counter siege

Notre Repos, days later

With the augres aid the camp was quikly ransacked, its defenders overwhelmed. What few of the remaining dark elf prisoners were coaxed into following him he returned to the refugee camp with the spoils of war: weapons, armor and food, all of which carried by his minions. Even so he was still hailed as a hero between inadvertently reuniting lost friends, neighbors and merely bringing food that didn't have to be haphazardly hunted down by novice gatherers, muted as it was by their newfound and more intimidating allies. The weapons were simply a nice bonus for them however. Alas he couldn't help but roll his eyes and groan about it when he ended up having to guard said food from them else it would've been immediately eaten to the last crumb in a trumped up celebration. For better or worse he wasn't made to share in this annoyance alone but that was neither here nor there.

Cutting through the wilderness from Chiselle to the capital of Versailles was an estimate of over a week's worth of traveling, not that the road was much better in this regard in this regard. That was of course under the assumption that they would for all intents and purposes be traveling in a relatively straight line as far as the map was concerned. Sadly the map was not as detailed as they would've liked. It was a given that some of the obstacles had to be navigated in their own right, enemy camps had to be avoided... or plundered whenever the opportunity arose for the aspiring overlord, but one would think a small mountain or two as well as a couple of canyons would have been noted on the map!

Even so they marched on, not that they had much of a choice. Unfortunately this determination was not without consequence.

Tired, worn, weary regardless of class or distinction, both Naruto and elves couldn't help but be relieved upon the first sight of civilization that promised them a measure of rest and protection: high rising towers gleaming from a distance despite a gray sky hiding away the sun. Lighthouses, guard towers and other luxuries to be exact... until someone noticed the pillars of smoke rising from one side of the city obscured by the forest before them.

Regardless of who they were, quite a few of the elves had already sprinted off in the direction of the city before the first cries to "stop!" were proclaimed.

"Quick! Bring them back before they do something foolish!" Helos bellowed out as he tried to reign in those of a like yet belated mind. As for the others, it was like sheep unsure as to whether to follow the rogues out of familial loyalty or to stay with the herd as it was being ushered to safety. Regardless he didn't need to be told twice. Without thinking he had already sent his minions forth to bring some of the wayward refugees, six in all to his fifteen. The first three nearest to them were chased down, tackled and brought back against their wills despite their struggling against unyielding claws. As for the other three, they made it into the depths of the woods and thus out of his and the minions' sights, forcing the remaining horde to return to him whilst the wranglers forcibly shunted the wayward elves back with their kin under Helos' supervision.

"I'll bring them back and see what's going on while I'm at it!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as he ran after the concerned escapees, his minions following suit with manic giggles.

"Do be careful!" Adelia called out rather worriedly.

He raised his arm up and waved to signify that he heard her... it was a minute later that he came to palm his face in embarrassment upon remembering her condition.

Even so he wasted little time in navigating himself through the woods and brush. Thankfully compared to him and his minions the runners were rather slow in comparison, making them susceptible to the bum rush of his eagerly brutish minions. Not even the extra spurt of energy they garnered for themselves nor the protests of them "joining the fight!" could dissuade either him or his minions whom ignored the struggling elves anyway as they carried them off.

Once they were out of the way he dared to venture further the woods with his remaining band of three minions, one brown and two reds, in the direction of the smoke, all the while being mindful of his surroundings as a certain sense of... familiarity began to eat away at him. Around each corner he couldn't help but expect a hulking mass of red flesh awaiting to chase him once more, or the scent of fire and ash to assault his senses while steel flew overhead with mixed purpose. Before he knew it he was shaking, his pace slowing and his breath being labored with anxiety that even the company of his minions couldn't abate.

"Master, are you alright? You seem rather... out of sorts," Quaver spoke up.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," he murmured in return as he stopped and took a deep breath to collect himself.

"Oh? Nervous about entering your first siege? Ah, to be young again," Gnarl crooned. "Well, granted you're not the besiege or doing the sieging but that's beside the point."

"Ugh... Gnarl—?"

"Yes, yes, I know!" the older minion interrupted. "Just couldn't grant him _some_ dignity as an Overlord, could you?"

Again Naruto ended up shaking them off in favor of simply moving through the brush, albeit slower than what he would've liked. In fact he almost sighed in relief the exact moment he inadvertently snuck up upon a patrol of Renouvelé soldiers, giving him something to focus on, a real threat than one haunting the edges of his peripheral just seconds ago. Six in total, armed with halberds as well as swords strapped to their hips. Not only that but they were more armored more thickly than usual, what few joints that would be normally exposed encased entirely in metal. Rather than tackle them he erred on the side of caution and slipped into the shadows away from the patrol.

Sadly it wasn't the only patrol.

Before long he ended up skulking past patrol after patrol of no less than six soldiers each if not greater whenever he evaded them to delve deeper into the forest. Worse yet the further he went in the more it was becoming readily apparent that the cover that was the forest was reaching a dead end with a startling clarity. In fact to ensure he wasn't spotted he ended up climbing a tree amongst the very last column of the forest for some semblance of stealth and safety. Thankfully it was an action mirrored by his minions no less much to his relief.

From the tree it was quickly apparent that this sudden break to a dirt field was by no means natural: there before a great grey stone wall torn piece by piece by the makings of a siege sat an army's camp, kept at bay not only by the wall itself and what appeared to be a sizable ditch, the depth of which he could not tell from his position. Even then there was a sizable distance between the camp itself and the city wall under siege by ballista and catapults in the ruined field between them. From the camp itself, behind a wood wall and gate, trebuchets launched stones and even what appeared to be roughly made ceramic containers which either crashed and splashed fire onto the walls or else was lucky enough to land beyond them, hence the smoke he saw from the distance, the smoke of burning buildings.

It wasn't met without resistance however.

From above, in the parapets and towers that were not torn apart in the siege by those attacking them, ballista and catapults returned fire in an attempt to crush the attacking weaponry and their operators whilst arrows from the archers flew out in an attempt to snipe the attackers to little avail: larger than average shields blocked what it could. There were even mages to either blast apart or else magically bat away the stones that came close to crushing the siege engines.

 ** _"_** ** _KABOOM!"_**

But it quickly became apparent that stones and arrows weren't the only means that the Noircî employed: ballista, catapults and even trebuchets he managed to learn in between the Princess Gale movies and even some of his history classes when he couldn't sneak out. Whatever it was that belched smoke and fire from the interior of the city walls themselves, firing from the portholes built into the wall, it launched projectiles with such speed and force that whatever it hit be it shield, weapon or even mage was utterly obliterated. Needless to say it was these openings that the enemy catapults and ballista were focusing their attention on, assuming they weren't being targeted themselves.

Yet despite the piling dead and destruction of their equipment the Renouvelé army sent forth more and more reinforcements. to chip away at the defenses, and chip away they did despite the mounting casualties.

"Hm? Is that... I do believe that is. Look sire!"

Naruto jolted his attention away from the siege and looked about in confusion. When he directed his sight to the camp he was quick to make out something rather unique amongst the tents and the temporary wooden fortifications: towers. Glass towers, four in all, lined with an almost bare minimum steel framing to keep both the glass and the tower itself in place as a familiar blue vapor twisted within its confines. Not only that but there seemed to be some sort of apparatus along the base of which that the blue elves not attending to the front or had any other duty congregated around as they deposited their tanks and replaced them with new ones before marching away.

"Well if what that elf said was true then it looks as if those posh pantywaists are here for the long run. I'd imagine they'd be all the eager to show themselves out the door if their supply of mana happens to have meet a rather... 'unfortunate' accident," Gnarl chuckled. And Naruto couldn't have agreed more.

As for how though, that was another story.

With his army of fifteen and the severe lack of clones he wouldn't be able to mount a proper assault of any kind. Even if he went back and rallied the dark elves and the augres they would be overwhelmed by the patrols alone if any skirmish lasted long enough, especially so if one of them ran off to alert the main camp. Even sneaking into the camp didn't seem that much viable even if he were to wait for night to fall: one wrong move or a stray inner camp patrol would easily put the entire camp on alert. Similarly setting the camp on fire may not be conducive toward ridding of them either, though it would make a nice distraction and even cause a panic if it spread throughout the camp, it wasn't likely to destroy the towers. As such he was left with scratching his head as he tried to come up with a good plan.

It was then that inspiration struck him, from the Renouvelé's own efforts no less: there, toward the back of the camp, was an improvised construction yard where the torn trees were being converted to lumber, lumber being used for both the defenses and, more importantly, the construction of the siege vehicles. And there, waiting to be used, was an entire lot full of abandoned mobile catapults and ballista, even a few trebuchets yet to be deployed... Never has the idea of setting stuff on fire been so appealing.

It took some effort but one by one, tree by tree he got closer to the camp's defensive wall without any of the sentries or passing patrols being any the wiser of his nor his minions' presence. From the closest tree to the wall he took a risk and tossed his minions into a section of the camp he honestly hoped was deserted for the time being. Thankfully nothing reacted to the grunting minions whom gather around an imaginary flag. Nor to himself for that matter when he jumped inside for that matter.

Once inside he scurried off in the direction of the siege equipment while utilizing what cover he could make use of. His minions however... didn't have as much sense. More than once he had to risk discovery by sending them into the nearest open tent flap just to avoid a patrol. In fact it was nothing less than miracle they didn't seem to particularly care when something was actively being smashed beyond a mere glance in that tent's direction. Then again he could almost swear he could see a delighted sneer on the armored soldiers' hidden faces when they looked over at these gold embroidered tents he found himself lurking by. Even so it didn't make it any less stressful as he almost relied completely on luck alone to traverse the sprawling tents without incident. But luck or not he did make it through and found himself creeping to the thankfully unguarded siege engines, all of which primed and loaded for immediate deployment...

But first...

Choosing the farthest tents he could see from the direction he just came from he sent his reds on a suicidal but eagerly carried out mission of distracting the enemy. In the meantime he had the browns muscle the ballista into place, one for each tower. On a hunch and to allow his reds more time in returning to him he had the browns haul another ballista for each tower into place as well whilst he eyed two minions gates present themselves to him from the side.

Once the first set of tents were ablaze he called the reds off only to direct them to set more tents on fire. In short order a blaze ran rampant and thankfully began to spread through the camp without the continued effort of the reds. By the time they were halfway back to him panicked shouting was becoming prevalent enough to be heard throughout the camp, drawing attention to the wildfire, diverting sentries and ensnaring minor patrols into performing an emergency fire fighting situation else the entirety of the camp became a glorified tinderbox. But most importantly it drew attention away from Naruto: it was only by chance that he heard some of the sentries he failed to spot leaving their posts to investigate the matter. In their rush they didn't see him hide behind a catapult along with his minions close by, practically hugging it like himself. It was only when he was absolutely certain that the wildfire held everyone's attention that he finally acted phase two of his plan. The minions were more than happy to oblige.

"Quaver, please hand me a handkerchief. Barely a month of being an overlord and he's already wreaking havoc! I'm so proud!"

In his head the sound of a nose being blown into the requested item was heard. "It's just so beautiful!" Quaver sobbed just as the first bolt struck a tower and shattered it with surprising ease. In fact it was only a little more shocking when compared to how quickly the stored mana escaped into the air.

In quick succession the ballista were loosed onto the towers and just like the first their casings was obliterated. The final tower however was when his plan had finally hit a snag, and with it came the death of his growing idle wonderings as to why the Noircî hadn't performed such a similar feet he himself had just enacted: having grown wise to his assault the mages had stopped the silently screaming bolt dead in its tracks during its flight to the tower. It was barely a second later that it was forcibly thrown away into the depths of the surrounding forest. It only took half as long before the undeniable shouts of anger and orders were heard over the roar of the bewildered camp and for the unmistakable sound of armor en masse moving to his location. Worse of all however was that he soon learned of a very crucial flaw in his plan...

He failed to think of a proper escape route.

Panicking, he began to look for the nearest exit only to find a closed gate some distance away. If anything scaling the closest wall was a quicker means of escape. But doing so though would mean he would have to leave behind his—...

He almost slapped his hand to his face and groaned.

With a wave of his had the browns and the reds dashed to their respective gates and leapt inside with a joyful cry on their lips, one of which shouting "cowabunga!" before disappearing. Alone and unencumbered, he cut his losses and abandoned the siege equipment in his own dash to the closest wall, but not without loosing a fireball on one such engine of war with the mild hope of setting it on fire. Whether or not it did though was a matter he didn't care to investigate as he jumped up the wall thanks to his shinobi training and vanished into the depths of the forest from there long before the first of the Renouvelé arrived on the scene to the beginnings of yet another wildfire.

XVX

Command tent, Renouvelé camp

No battle was without losses for either side. That much is universal law no matter how well planned the strategy was. Of how mighty their equipment was. Of the expertise or even experience being relied upon. Ultimately one could only hope for that in the end that the enemy suffered far more than that of their opponent. Today was not such an event. It was to be expected however, in a sense.

With speed, power and surprise on their side they had effectively overwhelmed each and every point of interest both tactical and non as far as the mana vents were concerned before their black skinned kin could form even an emergency militia to defend them. And though certain regions were likely unaware of what was happening, it was only a matter of time before the forts began to wonder what was happening and investigate accordingly when news ground to a halt. The same could be said for the capital. In fact it would be worse if the capital was involved, where the main army was stationed as a show of force to ward off the nations beyond the sea's horizon. That is why they had to act fast, to strike them and stifle them before they could mobilize on suspicion alone when they failed to receive even the most basic of reports of their precious magical academies' status. While true they had the sea to their back and thus a means to circumvent his own forces, they would be forced to divide their forces to do so in order to keep their would be invaders from crossing the threshold into venerable ground where their ancestors finally found lasting refuge at long last...

... despite their common ancestry however it had to be done. The Noircî had to be put into check before they effectively strangled their more unfortunate kin to death whether they realized it or not. The vents had to be sealed before the worst comes to pass. And for that to happen they needed time to seal up the gaps that bled Bordeaux dry. They needed to keep the armies at bay at all costs. He could only wish they had such time to convey such an emergency to their kin without having to resort to such drastic measures so soon. But what was done was done.

But now though, the task given to his forces was next to impossible.

Of the three siege camps to keep the Noircî from leaving by land his was the hardest hit by an unexpected and outright disastrous infiltration. If they couldn't restore their reserves then they would be forced to retreat within less than a month no matter what they would do. And though while said time may give the engineers time to seal up quite a few of the vents, it wouldn't be enough for them to seal _all_ of the ones in the northern region of Notre Repos before the Noircî finally had their opening for a counter attack, assuming of course they didn't quickly bypass their precautionary methods establish in the northern and eastern beach fronts. Regardless, it was a fact none of his subordinates were taking well, lest of all the nobles... a fact made all the worse when their tents were burned down, the whiners...

He could only imagine how the commanders of the other camps would react as soon as the messengers reached them—ideally they would send in convoys of their own spare canisters filled with mana as he had requested to help alleviate the situation: though it wasn't comparable to a mobile tank, the canisters would help refill one of the silos as soon as they repaired one of them. Until then however he had to maintain order.

"I want a headcount!" he barked as the last of the fires was doused outside. "Killed, injured, missing, I want to know who's here or not! And prepare the auxiliary tents! I want them up before sun down!" he ordered the assembled council before him.

"The auxiliary? The auxiliary!? You would have us sleep in such savage conditions?!" a noble demanded.

From behind a helmet in which only ones eyes were visible it would be impossible to tell if the tallest figure among them was sporting a sour scowl on his face as he turned to the noble, his status denoted by the more custom quality and sheer ornamentation of personal and familial heraldry encompassing his body suit to enable him to stand apart from his counterparts born from similar backgrounds such as the mage before him. Even so the noble took a nervous step back as the elf whom stood both head and shoulders taller than most advanced upon him and came to loom over him. The heavy armor he wore, gilded though it was with hard earned insignia to proclaim his rank, only helped add to the intimidation factor much to his secret delight. Or rather _their_ secret delight. He didn't doubt for a second that his soldiers were taking delight where they could in the otherwise aggravating moaning and moments like these where rank and the fear of crown approved disciplinary measures reminded the nobility of _their place_ for a change.

"Have you packed a spare tent by chance?" he pointedly asked in a deceptively calm yet authoritative manner.

The noble hesitated to speak. He was even squirming under the taller one's scrutinizing gaze, his mouth clamped shut.

"Do you plan on sleeping with the others then?" He gestured to the longer tents, the 'barracks' as the men had taken to calling them, where at night the canisters were detached from their respective garbs and placed onto the ground next to their cots. From there, and if opened just enough to create an opening, a slow trickle of mana would be released to ensure the elf in question would be able to sleep comfortably without being forced to wear the armor or suit at all times to ensure their survival. In a properly made and sealed tent the mana wouldn't either evaporate or be absorbed by something else too quickly. Regardless of this the noble being 'questioned' remained silent as he knew he wasn't going to be supported in his complaint in the slightest by his peers.

"Are you going to sleep outside in the stars then?" The last resort of any of the Renouvelé when the need for sleep was too great to be ignored. Even in a cloth suit it was uncomfortable at best if they slept on their stomachs in the event that they hadn't bothered to alter the dispensing system of their suit. Few did, though it often came as a cost of a smaller canister, a smaller reserve of mana at their disposal to keep them alive.

"No?" The general leaned in, his eyes boring holes into the silent, fidgeting mage. "Then get the auxiliaries out and start setting them up."

The mage slinked away as did a few others to carry out his orders to retrieve the auxiliary tents, spares really. Ironically they were suppose to be the very tents the nobility were to sleep in in the first place. But nobles being nobles preferred their luxuries over common sense and... commoners. In its own odd way it worked out however: it may have divided the camp but those of nobility and commonality were content enough to ignore each other if they could help it... But alas with the destruction of their tents and being forced to live in "substandard" accommodations it was only a matter of time before the deriding comments began to fly once more like back in the more peaceful walls of Bordeaux where drunk tongues and carelessness had both freer reign and, sadly, less consequences. Here though, thanks to that saboteur, such bigotry coupled with a crippling lose of mana held more devastating consequences should a riot break out amongst his troops. Even if by some miracle no one was killed it wouldn't take the Noircî long to not only notice this but mount an appropriate response as well...

With any luck the repairs should help alleviate the problem if only barely. Until then however he had to mind the defenses and the siege. The Noircî were to be held in check. As such they were not to be given a chance to advance.

XVX

Forest, evening

It was late when he finally admitted with a groan that he was completely and utterly lost. In such an unfamiliar forest combined with enjoying what was about to be a lost art of leaping through the trees he was unable to find his companions. Sadly not even a Tower Point surfaced for him to help him back by returning him to somewhere more familiar than the darkening woods.

Lost though he was it didn't mean he was luckless. In his meandering he happened upon another siege camp. In fact he almost mistook if for the camp he had raided earlier in the day had the angle not been different, the tents having not been burnt down or even the three towers, as oppose to four, been standing tall. In fact it was so identical to the previous one that he was quick to spot the siege works where an entire lot of unused but prepped siege weaponry were waiting to be used...

Gnarl would've been proud to see an almost wicked gleam flicker across Naruto's glowing eyes as he eyed a spot where a hunch told him the minion gates would spawn.


	8. Chapter 8

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Eight: Just another day... give or take

Guest House, The Majeau Estate, Versailles, Notre Repos, ten days later

Between their personal history which was fraught with conflict, genocide and enslavement and the natural mountain ranges, the Noircî saw to it that they had no less than four standing armies at a given moment. Three of which resided in fortresses ringing the island nation which guarded natural gaps within the mountains that could be readily used as a foothold for an invading force in the north, the southeast and the southwest. As for the fourth army, the largest of which, it resided within the capital itself where the gap was the largest, northeast from the center point of the island proper and blocked off only by the entirety of the city itself. Furthermore in their desire to keep invaders out a multitude of forts were constructed with a great many walls to further cordon off the bay and harbor from the city should the worse happen. There was one flaw however... the Noircî became complacent after so many years of comparative peace and safety.

With the assurance of three other armies and at least a messenger rushing to them in earnest there was little reason to change the ancient defenses put into place during the capital's foundation. As such the only means in and out of the city by land were three narrow bridges over the moat roughly the width of three men side-by-side. Even then in their confidence the darkened elves didn't bother updating their defenses along these points of interest till they were forced to bring in their heavy artillery as a desperate defense toward the siege engines that assailed their walls. Worse yet, even if they did lower the draw bridges to charge out and meet the Renouvelé and they in turn didn't use their weaponry on the bridge itself, there was little doubt that a troop of heavily armed and armored soldiers could hold an advancing force at bay whilst two other units armed with either bows or spellcraft pelted the defenders from the sides without challenge, especially since there was little in the way of defense for any marksmen along the walls should push come to shove; most likely an intentional act for reasons yet unknown. Regardless, forced into the defensive without the ability to meaningfully leave its walls, the army was forced to endure this disgrace and stew for as long as the camps guarding their entrances remained in place... needless to say that became a nonissue when the young master violently cut off their lifeline. Oh how Gnarl giggled at the elf-on-elf violence the second the Renouvelé routed like each one had an army of demons set upon them. He even wished he could have recorded it for posterity the second the besieged army caught wind of what had happened and promptly dropped the bridge to let loose their vengeful cavalry.

Sadly it didn't exactly keep him in a good mood however.

Having no better place to live, and as something of a reward for ending the siege upon the capital, and after some initial hesitation out of fear of being a burden, one Countess Adelia Majeau, magistrate of Chiselle, had offered the young master residence and asylum in her estate's guest house... Well, guest mansion really but who was paying attention when one was tasked with dealing with abhorrent admirers that were hard pressed to know when to quit or tone down their gratitude? At any rate this way their home away from home for now. At least until the young master cracked enough heads and looted enough places to take over or build a more grander lair that suited his tastes. Sadly of course he wasn't inclined to do so. Neither were the augres for that matter but they were their own lethargic issue; it was as if they were in a depression despite having ready access to the forges capable of housing their gigantic statures as well as the promising prospect of being commissioned to craft a legion's worth of arms in the near future! Even if they didn't get a chance to nick any materials for themselves, one would think that worshippers of a dwarf god of smithing would be roused by such a notion! But no. If they listened to anyone it was the young overlord trainee. Even then it looked more like they were simply going through the motions for courtesy's sake. For the time being they simply made themselves home at their camp which essentially guarded the front door to their new master's newfound residence that was once the guest manor belonging to the gracious elf the overlord rescued from the Renouvelé fort.

But that was hardly here nor there at the moment.

Ever since the siege was broken and the enemy camps forced into a costly retreat the leadership of the dark elves have taken to congress over their next course of action despite the obvious conclusion. In the meantime their garrison gathered and sent out expeditions to the outlying fortresses to see whether or not they suffered a likewise fate as the capital endured in recent days. Regardless of that, when the war was officially joined in full it would hardly be a surprise if the young master was roped into it all, most likely as a mercenary, not that they had much in the way of choice between his lack of both experience and notoriety in combination with their genuine need for resources. Probably another reason as to why Gnarl was in a foul mood as well. If not it would definitely be stuck down in his craw should it be brought up. With any luck it'll be the new secretary! Oh how he was waiting for such a day! He wasn't holding his breath however. Being free of that accursed hat and its cantankerous bells plus all that entailed was a boon of a lifetime on its own! Or at least being content with for the next decade or so, either or. But that was besides the point.

While thankfully the young master wasn't content with simply lounging about and basking in what praise and gifts that came his way like so many of the masters of old he was off training, bettering his magical abilities where he could with the hope of expanding his more arcane arsenal, it wasn't really enough for what was likely to come. To that end Quaver had taken it upon himself to better stack the deck in the overlord's favor ever since most of the countess' staff had essentially taken it upon themselves to head off would be admirers at the gate as of late. Beyond that the augre camp inadvertently further dissuaded the more vigorous and sneaky of fans. Last but not least the minions acted as the final defense to the borderline crazed if they had made it that far, thankfully though none had so far, thus negating his more civil duties in comparison to Gnarl... who was sulking like a baby. But again that was besides the point. At any rate the minion had taken to reading almost everything he could get his claws on that could favor the young overlord at the meeting table to come. What few spell books, two really, had been set aside for the master's perusal for whatever worth they may hold considering only the Blue Minions could use magic; for better or worse only a select few ever bothered to expand beyond their more innate abilities. Whatever maps concerning the island of Notre Repos had been had been coalesced and expanded upon in size to the greatest detail he could manage on the largest sheet of parchment he could scrounge up. As for books regarding the local fauna and natives he had dedicated an entire moderately sized tower of paperwork towards the note-taking for whatever perceivable benefit it could bring. It was of course during this act that he unwittingly stumbled upon an idea that would surely weigh in Naruto's favor if push came to shove:

They needed an army.

While minions were the backbone to any enterprising overlord's operations from manual labor to waging outright war on others and found them to be a success, they weren't enough. No, the truly _awesome_ overlords whose name would be immortalized into history in hushed whispers had a diversified army to do their bidding! Hell! They themselves, Gnarl and himself, found evidence of old factions once aligned with the previous masters still carrying the corresponding Overlord's colors amongst other things during their travels! Well, there was also some evidence they, some factions at least, may have ran off with some of that overlord's belongings too after their demise but, again, that was besides the point! The augres themselves seem to recognize Naruto out of old loyalties, fuzzy as that was! And there in came the first step toward bolstering the young master's significance and leverage: a recruitment drive! The question of how though remained.

From what he had gathered it seemed that these augres had been on the island for some time, even before the elves came and settled upon the island's shores. While questions of how they recognized an overlord were floating about, augres weren't unique to this island alone, much like humans and dwarves in that regard in that they were found almost anywhere where one can and cannot expect it. The same could be said for refugees in fact whenever push came to shove. Regardless however augres, being augres, tended to keep to themselves until they had one reason or another to leave their settlements, typically in search of new materials or, more often than not, go hunting... Needless to say this had brought them into some conflict with their new neighbors in their early days of settlement. It was hard not to when a once bountiful supply of meat had to be shared by two parties, starving the both of them before long. At any rate however despite their troubled history a laissez-faire policy had seemingly taken place once the first of the crops began to bear their harvest, reducing the need for hunters among the dark elves and in turn leaving more game for the augres to devour on their own accord. Since then they largely left each other alone, barring the occasional skirmish over resources like iron of course. But that was another matter. What really mattered was the fact that the elves managed to track the augres to their reclusive stronghold in the heart of a dormant volcano. A volcano which, if he was following the path their master had traversed to reach Versailles, was roughly a day's walk from the camp where they found the batch that now accompanied them... which might explain their depression...

But it was a start! Even if by some chance he _didn't_ get an augre army in that the previous residents were... forcibly evicted and enslaved if the intent was read correctly at the camp, or else murdered, depending on the damage the young master would either have himself a new and proper lair all to himself or at least an impressive armory to raid! There was no way he could lose! Well, give or take a few factors out of their control but they didn't matter at the moment.

With newfound vigor the minion grabbed what evidence he could use to support his case and dashed out the door with an eager grin splitting his lips.

XVX

Meanwhile, The House of Parliament, The Eclipse Palace

A surprising many were objecting to what amounted to a civil war. True they were their kin once upon a time but that may as well been an age ago for anyone who truly cared. Their time in Bordeaux however changed them for the worse both in body and mind, twisting them and turning them into something... _disgustingly_ familiar to those old enough to remember the Wandering, their forced nomadic meanderings. As such they were all in some way glad that the Renouvelé seceded from their parentage, turning the strange dome of ancient make into a city-state which they could never leave. Their prison forevermore... or so they thought.

Trade with them was minimal throughout the years, more out of pity than anything else to ensure they didn't starve to death. What farms they managed, vineyards primarily for the sake of trade, were barely more than a quarter of a mile in length from the nearest relevant entrance out of the dome. They found and buried more than a few unburied corpses beyond this perceived limit in a vain effort to expand them. It was all the more pitying to see the township once built around the mysterious archaic site of an unknown purpose had long since been abandoned and left to crumble away in its neglect. As such it was quite the surprise when rumors and reports of them wearing 'strange garments' fitted with tanks on their backs left the dome for days on end without dying began to mill about in more recent months... if it only it helped serve to warn them of such wanton aggression however.

Regardless, thankfully it wasn't out of pity these councilors and officials were trying to stall the deployment of the armies whilst a new one was being marshaled with due haste. It was out of old fears, the ones drove them to create the forts; to go out of their way to ensure they had a multitude of armies even in peacetime. There was already talk that the Almia Empire's navy to the north was skirting around the perimeter once again, hunting for an opening their ancestors, both the Almians and Noircîan respectively, had missed despite generations of searching. Even they didn't it wouldn't be the first invasion upon the shores of Notre Repos. As such it was enough to stall the process enough to give the empress and even the more enraged members pause before declaring even an emergency deployment of the capital's standing garrison despite the evidence presented thus far. Not even the testimonies of those who survived the sacking of Chiselle and others sharing a similar fate was able to dissuade her or the holdouts from waiting for the first of the new regiments to be filled. If there was to be any hope of swift retribution upon these unprovoked hostilities and tragedies then it laid with the scouts sent out to ascertain the fate of the outlying fortresses and the townships they stood guard over. The first of which should be returning by the end of the week if they were forced to be careful. Even so it still chaffed her.

Having long since said her piece and having endured more than enough prattle the countess excused herself from her balcony which overlooked the podium and chamber below with the aid of one of her servants given her... condition. Another circumstance of which that only added to her worsening mood as of late despite the well meaning condolences of both friend and passersby knowing of her tale.

"Adelia?" a familiar voice to her uttered.

In perfect unison she and her servant came to an abrupt stop. A moment later she let go of the uplifted hand that acted as her means of guidance through the halls and the crowds should they appear and turned in the direction of the voice. "Yes? How may I help you?" she patiently greeted as she reigned in her slowly unwinding tension lest it caused an incident of sorts.

"It's me, Adelia," the voice murmured once more in an almost worn manner. Barely a moment later her brows rose up in surprise as her... 'eyes' widened beneath the silken band she covered them with as of late since returning to the capital.

"I'm sorry my friend," she murmured as she bowed to him.

Her newfound companion simply offered a soft chuckle as he almost silently padded over, reached out and _very carefully_ placed a hand on her shoulder. Despite her familiarity with him she still tensed however, causing one Baron Laurs to contritely withdraw his hand. "I'm sorry..."

"No. It's not your fault my friend," she offered as she straightened herself and did her best to resist brushing at the spot his hand touched in a bid to wipe every memory that sullied her... "I haven't quite... recovered yet."

"Still, I'm sorry," he reiterated, earning a worn smile from the countess in return.

"So I take it you're... 'tired' of today's proceedings?" he offered in a quick attempt to shift away from the awkwardness of the moment. Despite its transparency it was appreciated all the same.

"Yes, you could say that."

A half dry scoff escaped the baron. "I cannot blame you in the least," he sighed. "If it's any consolation..." He paused. Soon enough she heard with strained ears that he was padding closer to her. Though sightless, she wasn't without enough sense to at least suspect he was leaning close to her ear as possible without deliberately invading her personal space beyond the act. Sadly, while she knew him, it did little to ease to distress... "As I understand it a number of the other nobles have been forming their own militias out of their personal security and the enraged populace who didn't quite make the cut to join the army. If the rumors are to be believed then a number of them are quite worried about their more distant relatives since your testimony of Chiselle when their own dispatched messengers haven't returned. As for the militia, who knows. There's a good chance they have families in the towns beyond the walls as well at least."

As he drew away she did little to repress something of a at least partially vindicated smirk from twitching her lips. "You're right, it is a bit of a consolation to say the least. But I must say, one would think it was something of a prohibited nature that you were discussing in my ear," she offered with a good natured grin. At this the baron lightly chortled in return.

"Well, I would imagine the guards wouldn't allow a barely armed and organized mob wage war on a military force on their own accord in good conscience should they learn of it." They shared a brief laugh before Baron Laurs spoke up. "That actually reminds me..."

The way he paused brought a curious hum from Adelia's lips.

"You said that... human child who is staying with you. This... overlord was it? That he essentially raided not only the—"

 _"_ _No."_

Though she couldn't see him she knew well that she caught him flat footed with his mouth agape in surprise. Had it been any other topic she may have even enjoyed it.

"But Adeia!"

"I will not convince him to fight on our behalf," she countered, her brow furrowing in a glower.

"Just hear me out my friend. I mean, after all, he has those giants with him! We both know they never followed anyone before so he must have some sort of command over them. You and I know those brutes can easily crush an elf by simply stepping on them! And I think we can both agree that the people would sleep a little easier at night knowing they're feasting on blue colored flesh rather than our people's flesh should push come to shove."

Adelia however refused to yield. "I said no."

"Even if it means curbing the losses before the army is officially deployed? Hell, to make their jobs easier if this overlord could punch a gaping hole in the traitors' defenses? To cripple their offensive maneuvers if given a chance?"

She hesitated for but a moment before answering him. "As I have said before, no. Furthermore, just to warn you, I will not stand idly by should I learn that someone is manipulating him into becoming some form of buffer for the army when it is deployed."

Her friend didn't say anything for a time. In fact the hallway was so silent, barring the occasional dulled outburst from the parliamentary chamber from the nearest set of doorways to the balconies of which, that she almost feared that he had left her there if she hadn't reminded herself of the servant whom stood by her side, waiting patiently to guide her back to her awaiting carriage outside. Even with that reassurance she was still relieved when Baron Laurs finally spoke up once more. "I apologize. I didn't mean to upset you."

She nodded in acknowledgement yet remained silent.

"But if I may, let me remind you that he was the one who broke the siege on the capital. He also has command over a tribe of gremlins as well as a sect of augres. It won't be long before others are reminded of these facts Adelia. Seeing as he is living within your estate you can mitigate the amount of petitioners who come calling. But, given your position, if the High Court, the Empress, sends forth a representative to parley with him?"

She didn't answer him. Not directly at least. She didn't pretend in the least that her hands didn't come together to better hide and resist curling them up into a fist.

"Adelia," he said rather quietly, solemnly, to the point it snapped her out of her frustration for but a moment. "I can understand that you feel indebted to him, or that perhaps he's too young and as such innocent of what anyone may ask of him beyond the acts he already committed that we know of at least... but aren't you being a little _too_ protective of him?"

Her lips curl as she fought to maintain a neutral frown.

"... Adelia..."

She took a deep breath through her nose as quietly as she could to maintain her dignity. "As I see it he deserves some form of compensation for not only the rescue of the citizenry of Chiselle, those abducted from the villages near which whom been rescued during our travels to Versailles, and Versailles itself. If it means he has a proper place to rest outside of a shack in a cave, proper meals, tutoring and insurance that he isn't bothered then I am all too happy to oblige his requests."

"... did he even ask for any of that?"

Her lips remained sealed. They only pinched tighter when he softly sighed a sigh of exasperation.

"Adelia... unless he somehow snuck into Notre Repos there is only one place that he most likely came from... Adelia, he probably has a mother waiting for him in Free Port where Château Chêne stands watch."

Her hands gripped themselves as tightly as they could in lieu of... anger? Jealousy? Embarrassment? Vexation for sure, she was mature enough to admit as much solely to herself. Regardless, she did her best to hide her weary sigh as she tried to not let the logic of the argument get to her. As such she bowed to him and murmured "it's been pleasant talking to you, my friend" before taking the gloved hand of her servant whom guided her away from the hall before she did or said something she would regret.

Despite this precaution however, much to her distaste, his words of caution haunted her more than she would've liked whilst her thoughts turned to the messengers whom were to return... She gripped the gloved patient hand harder as she did her damndest not to let the shadow image of a village and a human woman creeping into her mind against her will get to her.

XVX

The Majeau Estate

While the more rational part was chastising him for it... he was feeling kind of awesome as he surveyed the assorted nine browns, six reds and two augres he managed to scrounge up for his little expedition. Just days ago he inadvertently saved an entire village's populace and then some from the clutches of sadistic enslaving bullies, escorted said villagers all the way back to their capital and dismantled a siege on said city without really intending to do any of which (barring the escort of course). It wasn't until this moment that he realized that, with some prior idle rumination, this was almost exactly the sort of things he wanted to do as a shinobi! Hell, he was gaining _genuine_ and _good_ **_recognition_** from it all! It was almost scary really, the adoring fans; a few trips into the city proper by himself as himself were enough keep him from wondering as to why there were always guards patrolling along the countess' fences nowadays. On another note it also made him consider banning the jester position seeing that Quaver, despite his supposedly many years as the jester, was happily tossing the new jester into the... mess left by Naruto that one time he escaped a mob intent on force feeding him whatever constituted as tasty. He must have ate something particularly bad during that frenzy...

But that wasn't really the point...

Mere weeks ago he sat at a desk quietly learning what he could when he could, trained by himself till blood replaced his sweat and spent many a night laying awake in his bed as he dreamed about becoming the Hokage throughout it all; he dreamed of a day where those cold glares and snide remarks were washed away by the sheer vindication of being someone who was both acknowledged and respected in a village that taken great lengths to shun him daily and humiliate him where they could. When that night happened however he felt that hope lost, and the offer, dubious as it was, was the closest thing he had to a purpose considering he very well may be an enemy to Konoha now... Now though, after considering what he had done and eying the potential of what he _could_ do, especially with coveted rewards such as these? Maybe he didn't need to be a village leader to prove himself to the world after all.

Satisfied with his musings and inspection he finally turned around and made for the estate's primary gate, the means closest to any of the city's gates whilst his respectively giggling and somber horde dutifully followed him. He stopped however a few steps into his newfound journey when he idly glanced over to the virtual palace that was his neighbor's home. "Oh that's right," he mumbled to himself with a frown hidden away by his scarf. "Quaver?"

"Yes sire?" the minion chirped from his side after having been stopped from waving them goodbye by the young master's call.

"Would you please," he started as he lifted his arm to point at the house, "let Auntie know I'm going to be gone for awhile?"

"Yes sire!" Quaver saluted. He then turned to scamper off to the castle of a home only to halt much like the overlord before him as something caught his attention. "Or, if I may be so bold, master, you _could_ tell her yourself," he half murmured as he pointed in the direction of the gate Naruto was heading to. In his curiosity Naruto turned to look at the gate only to flick over to a moving object, a carriage bearing familiar heraldry, strolling to the gate from the other side.

"Huh... she's back early."

"Indeed," Quaver simply agreed. "Do you still wish for me to tell her?" he asked.

"Nah, I'll do it."

"Very well then! I shall see to it that no one sets the house on fire while you are gone then sire whilst I add the finishing touches to your latest ballad worthy exploits!" And with that Quaver excused himself to pad his way back to Naruto's latest abode. In the meantime Naruto made for the stone pathway that lead from the gate to the primary residence with his small army in tow. Once he was close enough to the paved road he waved the carriage down though it didn't seem like he needed to in hindsight. Even from a distance he was barely able to make out that the carriage was canting to the side, bringing it as close as it could to the edge without depositing its passengers onto the grass beyond the first step out of it. Even so Naruto couldn't help but doubt the countess would've mind that in the least with the way she practically scrambled out of the carriage the second it stopped, leaving behind a mildly disgruntled butler behind in the carriage for but a moment before he could step out. By then however the countess was out on the grass, her head on a swivel in search for Naruto despite... Naruto couldn't help but grimace.

"Hi Auntie!" he announced loudly with a wave... That same hand soon came to smack his own face in frustration and self reprimand. Regardless of his embarrassment however a pair of slender arms came to wrap around him in a warm embrace before he knew it, followed closely by a soft chuckle.

"It's quite alright dear," Adelia softly breathed like a loving parent... It sent a rather unfamiliar jab into his heart as he considered what he was to tell her soon. In the meantime she drew back, her hold loosening for her to do so without letting go, so she could gently smile down at him. "So am I to assume you're taking an armed escort for a trip into the city?" she giggled. "I'd be more than happy to arrange such an escort from my own staff. They might be better received after all," she said as she 'looked' to her right. Eyes or no it was obvious she was practically glaring at the guest house behind her home.

"Oh Screw You!" Gnarl bit out for what it was worth from the safety of the Tower Heart's room.

Quaver was alright, that much was easily discernible for the young overlord. The minions were a tad less hospitable but acceptable, assuming they weren't wrecking things for the fun of it. _Gnarl_ however... was the _reason_ they lived in the guest house in the first place despite the countess' offer to house them all proper in her castle-like home. It was almost like a tug-of-war between them till Naruto decided he was better off in the guest house to keep the collateral damage down! She only had so many tapestries and furniture he could set on fire or destroy respectively by accident without feeling guilty after all!

"No, it's alright," Naruto said as he fought an exasperated sigh. "I'm actually heading out to... uh..."

"Ogre's Mount," Quaver helpfully supplied.

"Hm? What? What's this about?" Gnarl questioned. Even though he was but a voice in Naruto's head at the moment his curious glare was palpable.

"Ogre's Mount," Naruto supplemented as he more or less ignored the minions as they talked amongst themselves by the Tower Heart. He couldn't help but regret it later as the countess froze, her face twisted in petrified horror for one nerve wracking moment spanning into an eternity, her hold of him tightening all the while as the color drained from her face. Then, with some of her color returning, she shakily smiled at him.

"W-why would you want to visit such a..." She paused and bit her lip to buy herself a moment to collect herself. "... those ogres—

"Augres," both Gnarl and Quaver corrected, the former more vehement and growling than the other, not that they were heard by her in the slightest.

"—aren't known to be particularly hospitable toward anyone," she amended with a smile he often seen on the old man's face whenever he asked him the more difficult questions regarding Naruto's personal life.

"Quaver kind of told me that," Naruto admitted a tad sheepishly before turning over to look over at the silent augres watching over the scene with only dull fascination at best. And even though she couldn't see he couldn't help but notice her hand was along her shoulder and arm most relevant to the pair. With that same arm he pointed toward them as his mind worked out the least guilt inducing line he could think of. "But don't you think they deserve to know what happened to their home?" He did his best not to flinch in response to her own more contrite flinching.

"... they were in that containment camp, correct?" she asked rather quietly, her fingers gently yet tensely clenching and unclenching through the padding of his garments.

"Yes..."

She quietly sighed and eased her hold of him. "Just try to be careful, alright?" she murmured to him with a worn smile.

With a smile of his own he nodded. "Right!"

With her worn smile in place Adelia hugged him to her once more before letting go and standing up. During which however Gnarl groaned aloud only to be promptly ignored by the overlord he served under. Regardless, with a promise to come back he dashed off before he could make the moment awkward for the both of them. As he turned to give her one final glance and a wave, which he stopped himself, he couldn't help but smirk as he caught her waving in his direction whilst the minions and the augres dutifully followed him. It brought a smile to his lips followed closely by a good natured chuckle...

That robbed him of his spatial awareness.

 _"_ _OOFF!"_

Do to having his head turned he was completely unaware of the stone post that made up one side of the otherwise iron gateway and was stunned for it. Next thing he knew he was on his back, the world spinning as his minions, the augres and a worried elf crowded his distorted field of vision. As this happened the countess continued to wave at Naruto without being any the wiser till the butler, his cheeks darkened in embarrassment, whispered the events into her ear.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" she screamed as she hiked up her dress and desperately dashed in the overlord's direction with the butler hot on her heels to keep her from veering off in the wrong direction. Being unaware of this himself and not trusting himself not to sound as wobbly as his slowly correcting vision, Naruto thrust up his arm up, his thumb as high as it could be in an effort to declare his wellbeing to the world.

"... Quaver, do we have any more of that crap those pointy eared bastards pass off as alcohol."

"You drank the last of it last night I'm afraid," Quaver 'apologetically' replied.

"... we can't get out of here soon enough Quaver. We can't get out of here soon enough."

 **A/N: Sorry for being late for this month's (July 2018's) post!** **It was a month of overbearing heat, attempting to survive said heat and customers, lethargy from trying to recover most days while attempting to write this, mild writer's block...** **and playing videogames.** **Yeah.**

 **At any rate I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Nine: Down, down to an Augre's town

Ogre's Mount, three days later

It was unexpectedly annoying, the backtracking. He _had_ intended to follow the proper roads leading close to the Augre Stronghold, dubbed the Giant's Forge by evicted locals who were kind enough to give him directions and advice, but, despite their forced retreat, the blue elves gave him the exact same problems that kept the Chiselle refugees from taking the roads in the first place. For better or worse though the makeshift camps seemed to be on the verge of retreating further inland regardless of what he did. Even so there were still far too many to risk entering a skirmish with for comfort however. Even the smaller satellite camps were packed with too many bodies amassing around their precious mana reserves. As such he had to take to the winding woods and game trails before with chanced upon familiar markers as his only guide. His only consolation thus far however is that unlike before he was moving at a much faster pace. It would've probably been faster too given how energetic the minions were sans the occasional break for food and a nap. The augres, despite their stride, were neither as quick nor as hardy in comparison however.

Still though, three days compared to over a week? Two of which spent traveling and the better part of the third trying to find a feasible means to travel up the volcano's side? Aside from the young overlord's own grumblings, only Gnarl would complain about that!

... when he was sober at least. And not throwing wine bottles, moonshine and what-have-you at unwanted intruders in Naruto's newfound home. Or not bound and gagged by an impishly mutinous secretary who more or less caused his drunken riot in the first place after apparently spilling the beans about some of the Tower Heart's observational capabilities to a certain distressed elf... who brought her butler/seeing eye... person... who was whispering every detail of his travels in her ear...

The Heart's surprisingly sensitive ability to relay communications near its proximity notwithstanding, it was pretty damn creepy in Naruto's opinion. It was almost like he had a ghost whispering in his ear yet whispering to another _despite_ being close to his ear! Sadly however addressing it didn't necessarily rectify it. While marginally less creepy, and regardless of who it was that was more or less narrating his actions, it was awkward thinking that someone other than either of the advisors he quickly grown accustom to being privy to his actions. Honestly, who watches others through some kind of magical window just to see what they're doing? It wasn't like he was playing a game or something! And even then what was he supposed to do to keep things interesting, dye his hair? He may love the color orange but he liked his hair just the way it is!

... but that was besides the point... creepy as it was for Naruto to contemplate at times.

By the fourth day he was essentially following the augres for a change as they led the way along what seemed to be a familiar path for them, one that had the snow driven from it by the aged tracks of boots and wagons marching along it en masse. After following it quite a ways they finally began to see the bodies, both elven and augre alike, at what was obviously the first of the augre's fortifications, a gate with a rampart carved into the side of the mountain itself to overlook the road itself from the side. Amongst its parapets were what looked to have been wall mounted variations of an augre's equivalent of a crossbow, discerned only as such from the many wreckage littering the wall by what few that actually did survive. As for the augres which manned them, it was hard to count how many were there from the charred limbs and other body parts that either stayed in the rampart of seemingly fell off it to join the numerous impaled Renouvelé mages that gruesomely decorated the road like macabre scarecrows... Needless to say that the gate was torn open.

The carnage didn't necessarily end there however.

In the road following the gate bodies were strewn about as traps were sprung, stones were thrown and battle was met. While the bodies of the Renouvelé being ignored was a given, it was a tad eerie to the overlord that neither of the augres so much as blinked at the bodies of their fallen comrades. Well, to be more accurate they ignored _a select few_ of their fallen comrades with but a handful of exceptions: only for a moderate number of their brethren did they stop for and for those few alone they dragged them away to a barely organized grouping of bodies. While some were similar to themselves, most of these bodies were of those with weapons as opposed to even a facsimile of a hand on either limb. Regardless, throughout the entirety of this endeavor, broken up as it was by chancing upon their chosen fallen allies, everyone remained respectively quiet as they could be till they finally passed the field of bodies without further incident to what used to have been a magnificent door way leading into the depths of the stronghold itself; the lower half of the furnished steel gate, easily twice the height of the augres, had been blown in much like the previous defense, effectively scarring what few relevant sigils and imagery that halfway survived on the upper half for the doorway. The hallway that greeted them afterward was just as horrible as the battlefields beforehand.

Worse yet... with the chill of the snow covered volcano and the wind that accompanied it, as well as the added bonus of keeping a fair distance as much as he could, the cadavers outdoors had a lessened sense of ghastliness. Almost like... statues. Disturbing statues liken to the 'scarecrows' just before them. In here though? In the comparative warmth, especially with a few braziers built into the wall for the benefit of bestowing light for all those who enter, in a relatively cramped corridor where the wind didn't blow? Between his minions doing the dirty work for him and what throw able knives he still had, until now he almost never had the unfortunate circumstance of actually looking a glassy eyed corpse emotionlessly staring back at him since his very first raid. Never mind one with its flesh was being eaten away by maggots and other such carrion. Likewise he never had to deal with the smell either... or be forced to contemplate for just a brief moment as to what it actually meant to kill another living being that wasn't a game animal. To make it even worse he his mind in a twisted grim reflection replaced at least one exposed face of an elf to an exact replica of his own to stare back at him. When it added Iruka for a sick kick in the teeth he nearly lost both his lunch and his breakfast, his cheeks greened and bulging from beneath his scarf.

"This..." Adelia cleared her throat within the recesses of his mind as he fought back against the bile in his throat. "This isn't something you should see, my dear," she managed to utter at last as the augres resumed where they left off after seemingly recognizing the bodies. For the time being he and his minions simply stepped aside as the select few bodies of fallen comrades were hauled back to the pile. Try as he might though he couldn't tear his eyes away from the strewn bodies of fallen elves. He cringed a little when the augres accidently yet uncaringly stepped on either them or their extremities, crushing either one effortlessly with a sickening crunch. For better or worse he knew that he wasn't the only one blanching at the sound nor the sight either, a gagged Gnarl and a free Quaver being a part of which. "I think that's enough," Adelia spoke once more with a bit of force behind her tone. "It's time to come home, dear."

Angry grunting could be heard but not discerned. Even with his relatively short amount of time around him it didn't take a genius like Shikamaru to get the jist of what Gnarl was growling about.

"With due respect, Lady Majeau, we're literally at the front door of it all," Quaver evenly countered. "It will no doubt behoove the master to at _least_ do some exploration before he decides to leave. Who knows? There might be survivors left behind these shattered defenses who would no doubt be grateful for some modicum of protection! Or at the very least there would be quite the armory to raid in their absence. It certainly wouldn't hurt to survey our potential new home either in fact."

"Wait—What—New home?!" Aunt Adelia practically shrieked, jostling Naruto from his morose mood with a startled fright. "What's wrong with him living here?!" she desperately cried.

The answer came, interestingly enough, from a rather even Gnarl. Or rather it at least it sounded sort of even due to his gag which garbled everything period... thus rendering this small paragraph moot regardless if they said paragraph was such or not.

"What I believe my intrepid companion was attempting to say," there was a pause so a loud and unmistakable growl could be heard from Gnarl, "is that considering that there is pack of demons specifically targeting our master it would be wise to at least had a giant door to slam into their faces, if only to buy him some time at least."

Stiffening at the inadvertent reminder Naruto's mind flashed back to the clearing just as it burst into a forsaken realm of fire that destroyed _everything_ within it... He then looked to his hand, his arm bent and his palm facing toward him.

" _DEMONS?!_ "

"Yes. A very vicious lot too I'm afraid," Quaver answered as a matter of fact. "Ever since we left Hapvire they been hunting down every descendant of our previous master to the man. As it stands our current master is the last of his line."

Quaver continued rather unabatedly. "As such it stands to reason that our sire is to take every advantage he can gather. Weapons, minions, fortresses—"

Unbidden by anything more than a thought Naruto's hand sparked with life as mana borne lightning arced and whipped along his glove.

"—and magical spells of course, just to name things off the top of my head."

With that same thought and some concentration the energy converged upon his palm into a fitting ball of fire.

"... _ALBERTE! GET HELOS AT ONCE!_ "

"At once my lady."

Though he initially winced at that, the sudden shouting, with a grim grimace of determination Naruto clenched his hand, extinguishing the flame with nary a lick of flame scorching his glove much less his person as the memories of a more intense fire burned away what morbid thoughts that plagued him. When he looked up to the augres it seemed like they were carefully investigated what few bodies of their comrades that remained. In the menatime the countess cleared her throat.

"My apologies, my dear. It seems you have... much to do," she solemnly murmured.

"Yeah," Naruto grunted as he willed himself forth. With uncharacteristic anxiety that he shunted down to the pit of his stomach he strode past the pair of augres and marched down the corridor, ignoring everything he came across to the best of his ability as he descended down a gradually sloping path. The augres in the meantime silently looked to each other, then to the diminishing form of the young overlord as he continued his trek. One thumped his chest rather lightly before using that same lone hand to the ground beneath their feet. He then jutted a finger at the other one and pointed it at the slowly disappearing boy on the verge of vanishing. The addressed augre nodded before lumbering after the party of sixteen. Even as the other augre began his journey the one that stayed hung his head for but a moment before rolling it and cracking his neck in the process. Once he was satisfied he resumed its search amongst the piles of corpses along the hall.

It silently grunted when it found another handless comrade and slowly dragged him away.

XVX

Upper Levels, Giant's Forge

The further he went in the fewer amount of bodies he ended up coming across. Or more accurately he found fewer _augre_ bodies as Renouvelé elves practically decorated once hidden traps and other such mechanisms that once sprung from the walls, the floors and the ceiling before said mechanisms and traps either malfunctioned from the disheartening amount of gore gumming up their works or were forcibly destroyed with complete and utter prejudice. Even so the previous statement still held true in that there were indeed fewer elven bodies the further he went in. Sadly even Naruto suspected it was due to more of a lack of manpower rather than hard learned caution as the doors beyond these traps weren't even touched in the slightest. They were still locked though. At any rate it would seem that for all intents and purposes the blue skinned elves had finally cut their losses and abandoned their campaign altogether long before the overlord's team arrived.

... and though morbid it was for Naruto of all people to consider, sadly for Naruto it also meant that the elves didn't discover all the traps before he arrived either.

 _Click!_

He back flipped away from the stone before he gave it half a thought, surprising him in the process almost as much as the podium which sprung up from the floor. Around its square base and cylindrical top an array of blades sprouted from every conceivable angle like a deadly flower and swirled in an attempt to cleave and maim whatever poor sap that was close enough to them. Luckily for Naruto and the minions neither were close enough for the trap to work. Even so, with nothing left to further engage it the blades retracted with meticulously engineered efficiency and the podium sunk back into the floor to await a new victim.

"What was that?" Adelia asked worriedly, edgily.

"... an interactive objet d'art?" Quaver replied rather... unconvincingly. Something that was further highlighted by a rather derisive snort from Gnarl. "Oh like you would do better!"

" _What. Exactly._ _Happened?_ "

In the time it took for one of the augres that came with him to finally stride over, tap the floor trap and seemingly disable it before making his way down the hallway and performing similar feats upon equally hidden implements of doom Quaver, with a resigned sigh, evidently ungagged Gnarl with a sigh. The next few moments of traversing the hallway to the augre at his beckoning were spent to the litany of spitting and growled curses aimed at Quaver.

"Feh, typical," Gnarl finally grumbled just as the sound of a bottle's cork being pulled free resounded through the connection. "All eager to prove something but at the hint of trouble you leave _me_ to do the dirty work. Self preening coward."

"Hey!"

There was a brief pause but Naruto could almost swear he heard something as he followed the augre deeper into the depths of the stronghold. Was that chugging? "Aaaaah," Gnarl sighed a second later.

"Alright. Like any proper denizen of evil who isn't keen on visitors the augres of Ogre's Mount have busied themselves with quite a few traps it seems."

" _TRAPS?!_ "

"Oh quiet!" Gnarl snarled. "He dodged that one quite well for your information! In fact most of our masters never had reflexes like that..." He then sighed. "Oh how I lost a few of my favorites that way."

"Easy now! Just breath! Here! Have a bag!" Quaver offered to the subsequently hyperventilating woman. "Now let's get you a nice chair to sit in..."

"Oh kill me," Gnarl grumbled. "At any rate, master!"

"Yeah?"

"While I admit I was... moody for the past couple of days, I still do notice things. Namely how odd this situation is."

"Huh?"

"While my memory might be a little dismal in spots, I do remember augres well enough. For example, while they may not be all that typically interested in having conversations beyond their work, they do talk. The lot that is still loitering out in front of this house? I haven't seen them so much as _grunt_ a word, much less those two accompanying you."

"Oookaay?" Naruto said as they came to a stop at a closed doorway that now barred their way. This one was decorated as well, almost like a mural. On each face of the double door were of augres at work on forges or else holding aloft their completed works towards one single image which adorned both sides. It looked like a portly short legged man with the most expansive beard Naruto ever laid eyes on, he was standing atop of a mountain above the augres. Both his arms were held up high with one hand clutching a hammer and the other a pair of tongs.

"Hm, yes, while that may not be troubling news onto itself, there is a more worrisome matter. While other beings can and have actually pissed them off or forced them to do other things out of necessity, at the heart of it all augres are smiths, devoted ones at that. For smiths there is no greater tool for them than their own hands. While true that they often engage in the act of intentional self mutilation, particularly of their arms, they always make sure they have at least one hand available to them so they could always continue their work regardless of what it may be in order to please their pudgy bearded god. That being the case it's as close to sacrilege as any for them to have _both_ hands removed or made useless short of the last one being cut off in a fight... it's a cold comfort sort of thing really. Helps them with their egos if such a thing did occur."

As Gnarl was talking the augre was fiddling with something, his body blocking Naruto's view of whatever it was on the door. Whatever he was doing he seemed to have succeeded. With a groan the doors let loose a loud but dull metal "ka-thunk" just before beginning to automatically open on their own.

"Something is happening here, sire, that's for certain. It may end well in your favor if you find out exactly what it is and... 'solve' it for them," Gnarl conspiratorially whispered with a slight giggle.

"Right," Naruto half mumbled as the door fully opened for them. He almost made to dash through it when a new rumbling assailed his ears, this time coming from the poorly lit corridor beyond. Soon enough the answer presented itself long before he began to wonder what it was. Coming from the other end of the corridor was a host of augres, the handless kind no less, were stampeding towards them, their arms waving as menacingly as their jaws bellowed a guttural war cry upon finding them. Naruto instinctively grabbed for his weapon and took a step back, his legs tensing as his minions either hissed at the incoming combatants or else giggled maniacally at their advance. As for the augre however...

Without so much as a grunt he simply stood directly between Naruto and the encroaching horde and held up his only remaining hand to stop them. While incredulous, Naruto watched on whilst preparing to flee only to stop himself when the mob's charged slowed to a halt some feet from his guardian while their aggression turned into confusion and bewilderment. With that same hand the augre was gesturing something, yet unfortunately due to his position Naruto was unable to see what was happening properly as the hand dipped back and forth from his body to out in the open. In the end though the one handed augre finally shifted so as to point his remaining organic limb toward the overlord, causing his limbless counterparts to lean over to look at the former academy student with quizzical looks. One of them then grunted rather pointedly and in doing so drawn the attention of the mediator between them. Once his attention was upon the one who grunted that same armed augre grunted anew.

"Huh... I think I'm getting the picture now," Gnarl mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" Adelia near demanded.

"Oh nothing... Besides, unlike mumbling, grunting is another beast to learn altogether. I mean seventy percent is purely contextual, forty percent is ensuring it isn't purely related to their mood, and the rest of it is a practically a potluck of religious differences, species differentiation and how experienced they are in the act of grunting alone!"

"I trust that you are aware that adds up to a hundred and ten percent," Adelia dryly noted with what Naruto could very well imagine to be an equally dry but pointed glare.

"It's actually closer to 249 percent if I count all the little details involved," Gnarl nonchalantly countered.

"... that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"With due respect, my lady, it's its own school of mathematics. In all honesty however I suspect it's designed solely to impress or at least confuse simple minded people, much like taxes rates and bills," Quaver added.

"... designed to impress simple minds eh?"

 ** _THWACK!_**

" _AH-WAHAH! HELP!_ _HELP!_ _HE'S GONE MAD AT LONG LAST MY LORD!"_

" _HOLD STILL YOU FAIRY OF A PEACOCKING, PIPE WEED SMELLING, NERF HERDING—"_ Gnarl managed to roar before slipping out of the Tower Heart's range.

"My child, I think we may need to consider better... 'advisors' for your future endeavors should you continue after this."

Having lost himself in the conversation in his head Naruto jumped when he realized he lost track of the augres' own exchange. As such when he renewed his sights on them they were simply standing in the exact same place as before, albeit the entirety of their attention was on him. Thankfully it seemed like they were patiently waiting, or at least the one handed one was, as the one with the only remaining hand gestured for him to follow before turning and wading through the crowd to the hallway beyond. The other augres stared at him for a moment before following suit one by one.

Seeing no better option for himself Naruto joined them but a moment aftward.

XVX

Lower Levels

The first floor of which, beyond the traps, was practically a large room with an armory in the back of which where the doorway to the second level was found. The second floor, like the first, was also riddled with traps... in a maze. He only came to learn as much when a few of the more ornery augres deliberately activated the traps in passing with but a slap of their blade or mace 'hands' against the otherwise hidden contraptions. As for the maze, there were too many twists and turns for him not to eventually realize this as he followed the troop meandering through it like a guide. Beyond that maze on the same level of course was another layer of defense: like with the first floor there was a giant room at the end where the exit lay. However there was no armory or something of a mustering field. Instead it was a colossal room with a spiked pit at the bottom, and over it was the only bridge to the other side.

He only discovered the massive boulders held aloft by a series of pulleys when his awed curiosity coaxed him to look up to observe the architecture of the room. It was this same idle wonder that had him notice the unmanned ballista platforms built into the side walls of the room, each balcony offering a clear view of the bridge underneath them.

Thankfully it seemed that beyond this, beyond another of the augres' great doors, that this was the last of their multitude of defenses. He kind of wished it wasn't however, and not because of its potential to break even the most stalwart of invaders.

At first he thought it was unexpectedly poor workmanship , or poor design rather that he and the band he followed wondered into poorly lit rooms lit by uncharacteristically crude braziers loaded with whatever the augres though could give it lasting flame; only a select few of the braziers were properly constructed into a basin and filled with oil whilst the rest were practically baskets made from bent, discarded bars of metal that were hammered into one another. They were so sparse and randomly placed that there was no set pattern for each room. Even then it seemed that they weren't used so much as for light or warmth so much as to cook... meals.

There certainly weren't game animals on those spits.

What finally clued him that something wasn't truly right by their standards was when his foot landed on something in the darkness... something that was disgustingly squishy... and horrendously rank. And getting onto his exposed toes!

"EW!" He exclaimed as he leapt back and vigorously shook his foot to fling whatever it was off his foot. For good measure, yet without thinking, he drew out his canteen of water and splashed a substantial amount onto the affected appendage.

"What? What is it?!"

" _(Huff-huff!)_ Well, it took me a lot longer but I taught. What'd I miss?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Adelia muttered a tad reproachfully.

"Hm... Master, how well can you see in there?"

"Not much?" Naruto offered as he devoted most of his attention toward shaking his leg free of whatever crap he stepped in. In the dark he wasn't able to tell how successful he was as he blindly whipped his foot out for good measure.

"Hm. Right. Let me see if this still works then." In the moments that followed whilst still flailing his limb about Gnarl began to mutter "no, no, no" rather dully as he apparently tinkered with something on his end. "Ah ha!"

"What is it?" Adelia curiously inquired.

"Vision of Darkness Mode!" Gnarl happily supplied. "Can you see better now, sire?"

"No!" Naruto readily answered before finally giving up and looking around for good measure. For the most part, aside from the braziers, he couldn't see jack.

"Huh, I guess there's still some bugs to work out. Then again the Tower Heart isn't typically used like this... Never mind! I guess I'll be your eyes then till you can properly see again—ew!"

"... it's not what I think, is it?" Naruto practically pleaded as his eyes clamped shut.

"It is sire. It sadly is... and there's still some of it atop of your shoe there, master."

Naruto promptly dumped what was left of his canteen onto his foot and waved it anew.

"What exactly did he step in?"

"... do I really need to spell it out for you? I think even an elf would infer what it is at this point!"

"Why I never! It's not as if—..." Adelia was silent for but a moment. "Oh that's just disgusting."

"Yes. You and I can agree on that much."

"Inside their own stronghold?!"

"In the middle of the floor of a dark room no less."

" _Have they no concept of good hygiene?!_ " Adelia incredulously growled.

"Well in all fairness it seems to me that he's in some kind of ghetto of all things. _Interesting_. "

Countess Adelia drearily sighed in response. "Be that as it may, we're drawing a bath for you when you get back, my child."

Naruto only groaned in response as he finally settled upon both his feet once more.

"Well, sire, it seems my suspicions are correct. While I cannot personally vouch for their preferences for a living space, I do believe most augres would prefer caves to this mess. At least then they could get a hint of personal space judging from their... I'll be generous and call those blankets beds for now. That and have a more designated spot to do their business, in privacy no less... ew..."

"They're not—"

"At any rate, aside from that turd right in front of you the path is relatively clear. That and... Hm. It seems there's a group of augres straight ahead that are looking for something sire. You may want to be careful."

For a brief moment Naruto drew a blank as to what he was talking about in regards to the augres. When his mind rebooted and reminded him as to what he was doing beforehand, before his little... episode, he perked up in embarrassment and raised a foot to dash off in the direction of his guide's group.

"HOLD IT!" Gnarl barked.

Naruto immediately froze in place.

"Now move that foot to the side a bit."

He did so.

"Alright, you're in the clear!"

And without further incident he bounded off in the assumed direction of the augres.

"GAH!/EW/YUCK/GAHAH!"

His entourage of minions were not as lucky however.

Both Gnarl and Naruto took a moment to face palm at the exact same time.

XVX

It was awkward all around: for him in finding the augres in the dark while trying not to gag on the stench emitted by his afflicted minions. For them in realizing it was him after bumping into them and nearly attacking him as a result. For them both in cautiously entering through an otherwise hidden grand door at the back of the room only to cautiously creep through the opening as if they were thieves on the prowl... and for Naruto once again when he expended almost the entirety of his reservoir of water canteens on not only his minions but his leg to make them _far_ less brown in appearance.

... the appearance of a waypoint gate and some minions gated helped assuage his mortification but not by much.

That aside however the group quietly crept through the halls and checked every corner till they found themselves in a storage room seemingly safe to use. Or as safe as can be since the augres relaxed only marginally upon entering it and carefully blocking the door with random items with as little noise as possible; for whatever cracks there was in their impromptu barricade they staffed either whatever conveniently sized items they could get their blade/mace 'hands' on or _carefully_ stuffed with rags so that even the light of the room's oil fed wall mounted brazier couldn't slip through. It was at this point that the augre with the one good hand grabbed a piece of chalk and making use of a nearby wall to inscribe a pictured history of their own story.

The end result was almost identical to Gnarl's own lectures really: simple if a little crude imagery and no words whatsoever. Unlike Gnarl however it was sequenced with arrow marks leading from one image to another and so forth.

The first image was simple enough. It was of them, the augres, presumably hammering away at anvils whilst a handful of them were bowing before a human figure wearing the three horned crown he wore now. The second was said figure now on its side with a sword sticking out of the other. Above said figure were a number of outlined figures with their swords raised in victory whilst the augres seemingly fled from the scene while being chased by other sword wielding figures .

"Augh... they had to remind me of that that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Now where's that wine bottle. Wait, never mind. I forgot I broke it over Quaver's head while beating him. What a waste..."

"My dear, you wouldn't by chance know what he's talking about, would you?"

"Sort of... An ancestor of mine," Naruto muttered as he continued to read the imagery before him.

By the fifth image it seemed that, like the dark elves, they were migratory for a time and forced out of each settlement they erected throughout the lands till they came across this island. Their tale didn't end on a relatively happy note however. The augres, marked thus far by outlines, were attacked by another tribe of augres whose figures were filled in with the white coating of the chalk. From there they were forced into bondage... aside from being tasked the more dangerous and the more menial of tasks their tongues were cut from their mouths afterwards cut out from their mouths as a means of dominance.

Eventually it seemed after a time they rebelled only to lose and in turn were punished for it. Judging from the deliberate side by side comparison of the figures and a following picture of a pair of humans, one taller and with a beard while the shorter one was seemingly a child, it seemed that the older ones were simply mauled for their efforts. The younger ones though... won't be bearing children any time soon, never mind being forever barred from ever properly wielding a hammer at a forge.

Simplified though the images were, Naruto had to fight to keep the bile from leaping out of his mouth. Gnarl in the meantime only hummed in sickeningly appreciative thought.

Thankfully the last set images were not of history but of a plan.

Judging from the rough sketch of himself, made especially short in comparison to the sketching of augres that surrounded 'him,' they wanted him to lead them in another revolt. And as the two clans clashed it seemed, judging by the outline of arrows, navigate his way through the ensuing fight toward an augre with a a strangely claw-like arm as opposed to the more cubic form present on most of the sketched augres's right arms. Aside from the weapon wielding ones of course. Regardless, to further distinguish him from the others there was a crown drawn above his head as oppose to on it. From there, based on the assumption that he won, with the augre 'king' dead, it would seem that not only would the enslaved augres bow down to him but the opposing tribe would as well. Or so was the plan.

"Seems simple enough. A little cliché but a classic notion nevertheless." Gnarl offered with a hum. A clap of his claws quickly resounded through the link. "Right! Let's get to it sire! The sooner you off him, the sooner you can move in with your gigantic bodyguards!"

"Off him? Off who?"

"Oh no one of importance. Our master must apparently assassinate the chieftain who not only enslaved an entire tribe of his overseas kin but decided to spade, neuter and cripple said tribe's young whenever they get uppity. Nothing out of the ordinary really."

the silence that followed was so palpable for Naruto that it was _bone chilling_ for Naruto.

"I see... A word of advice, my dear?"

"... yes?" Naruto squeaked.

"When you do slit his throat, I would suggest keeping the blood off you. My servants make it no secret how difficult how difficult it is to remove it when they accidently cut themselves. I would imagine ogre—"

"Augre," Gnarl offhandedly corrected only for her to continue unabated.

"—would be a hideous task unlike any other."

"You know I may have been too hasty in judging you," Gnarl cordially offered much to Naruto's surprise. "Though to be fair a few years of pointy eared louts wistfully sighing about how beautiful the grass is while writing poems about fluffy sheep and happy dreams can leave quite the mark on someone."

"... they wouldn't by chance be into dreadlocks and advocating to save the animals, would they?"

"Were they holding signs up saying "save the fluffy ones" and trying to convert people into a pseudo religion?"

"We had the displeasure of meeting them," Adelia factually noted.

"Oh please tell me we won't find them here. I hoped we seen the last of them when the demons came back for revenge..."

"No, you won't. Not many at the very least."

"Oh? Am I sensing something of a... story here?" Naruto didn't need to see the minion to see that dreadful grin on his lips.

"Matters did come to a head when they were here as a community," Adelia admitted.

"Oh! Do tell me!"

"I'm just going to go now," Naruto muttered more to himself than anything as they finally began to talk conversationally for the first time. He almost took a step away before he caught himself with a quick glance spent on the wall's imagery. At an overall loss for words whilst Gnarl's perverse giggling, in the manner of enjoying the concept of carnage, rattled through his ear he grabbed his sword and thrust it in the air in lieu of a proper answer. The augres however seemed to have perfectly understood it however as those closest to the door roared with approval before ripping out the crates, barrels and whatnot blocking it. With a sweep of his hand the minions were happily smashing them and setting them on fire for the augres. That and taking just about everything useful they could get their claws on, not that they minded. The same applied to the surprising amount of gold they found and brought to him. Even Naruto couldn't help but feel a little giddy at the sight of which as they disappeared into nothing upon touching his person; the conveniences of a magical artifact at its finest!

Sadly his joy was short lived when an augre abruptly opened the door from the hallway. Had the ones in the storeroom not seized up as they did Naruto may have dismissed him entirely as one of the enslaved augre had it not been for the peculiarly fine, furnished and decorated mail shirt he wore. Even so everyone's shock, his own, his allies and the intruder's was not to last either as it came to a sudden end when one of the closest weaponized augres swiftly lifted his axe for a limb and sunk it into the augre's head with a sickening 'shunk'. As for the victim, his jaw flopped as a weak gurgle escaped from it before the giant fell onto his knees and, after a vicious yank to dislodge the weapon, promptly slammed face first into the floor.

"RWOOOOWAH!"

As one the entire group of handless augres surged through the door in a mad rush the second the victorious bellow ripped through the air. Even Naruto charged after them only to be held back by the scruff of his jerkin. Immediately in response to this he twisted his head to curiously glance at the evident leader of this band of rebel augres who only shook his head in response. He then let go of the overlord's jerkin so he could point at said overlord, then to himself, then to the image of the augre 'king' on the wall.

Naruto didn't need him to elaborate further.

XVX

It was almost shocking for the young overlord at _how quickly_ the stronghold was mired with the throes of a revolt. While it was easily evident to see that with the suddenness of the situation had easily caught their masters unawares, a bloody tally reaped, the slaves soon lost their advantage of surprise when the lording clan began to break out the _quality_ weapons that their slaves weren't gifted with. No matter how finely sharpened or crafted the blade or mace, these weapons on stumps for limbs were barely a match for shields furnished with steel, the flexibility of wrists to properly swing weapons with appropriate might, limbs deliberately forged to _be_ weaponry as opposed to tools, and, once again, _pure quality_ which decided any and all attempts of one weapon seeking to overpower another; crudely finished copper weapons could only do much against their honed iron and steel counterparts. Even so such odds could only do so much to deter a horde of vehement slaves that bum rushed the defenses both out of rage and to distract the defenders. For one augre, a child barely reaching his knee and minions even shorter than he that left plenty of exploitable gaps to steal themselves away from the battle front and the various skirmishes that were littered throughout the city of a underground fortress.

Halls and corridors were quickly bypassed or ducked into when the occasional agitated patrol wandered by. With steady progress they were descending into even lower levels, levels where the heat was steadily climbing into sweltering proportions. Soon enough the answer to his unspoken question as the source of which came with the introduction of the final level, or what he had hoped was the final level.

The stone stairway almost immediately gave way to a metal one halfway down their descent. From there the stairs turned into a walkway with as much warning for the unprepared... That wasn't the interesting part however. Underneath this walkway, held aloft by practically an entire curtain of cables connected to the stone ceiling above, and thankfully a great distance away was a river of magma leisurely meandering its way through the chasm beneath their feet. There was but one discrepancy to it however, an island jutting out from the coursing river, an amphitheater it seemed. One that was divided in the center by a somewhat familiar statue holding high a hammer and tongs.

As they drew closer the finer details came into focus on the island. Yes, it was an amphitheater, and yes the grand statue that was towered over everything, yet, somehow having escaped his notice, was the pair of ducts built into the walls beside the statue itself which oozed lava into a pair of channels. The channels themselves, covered by grating to prevent someone from slipping into it beyond the initial feeding point, reached out and formed a complete circle, creating a red ring at the center of the stage where the pathway dropped off before the lava was bled out by another pair of channels leading back to the lava flow below. The lava wasn't the only thing that caught his interest however. As he was getting closer he noticed a definite deviation to the statue of the dwarf god, though one most likely made out of necessity as he soon spied: the statue's wrists were bound in chains, great chains to hold its arms high while smaller ones tether the cracked shoulders to the main body for the time being; it seemed at some point both arms broke off. There were even cracks in the stadium seating to support the notion. Even so the greater chains which reached all the way up to the ceiling looped back down to the stage below and were attached to a small series of anchor points for the time being. As he drew even closer however neither the lava nor the damaged statue of the deity could hold his attention. Not even the colossal anvil seated in the middle of the flat surface between everything earned more than a passing glance as he beheld the bodies strewn about the seats, the floor and the scaffolding under the destroyed arms. Whether they were once slaves or not he wasn't able to tell save for an exact few thanks to their missing hands.

Eventually though even the bodies weren't able to hold his attention any longer when he finally noticed that there was but one augre alive in the flattest portion of the theater. The one they were searching for, the one with the claw for a hand as opposed to a fist, a hammer or a weapon as was most commonly seen in passing. Wearing silvery steel armor coated in blood, yet surprisingly simple in design, the young overlord didn't doubt in the creature was glaring at them from behind its all encompassing helmet. Thankfully it didn't deign to move from its spot in front of the anvil. Or at least not until they finally hopped off the walkway and entered the amphitheater near where he stood. With little doubt of a baleful glare the armor figure growled in an unknown language as it raised its armor-like claw in their direction, its index finger ominously pointing at them.

"Allow me to translate that for you, sire." Gnarl paused long enough to clear his throat. "'So _this_ is your latest scheme? An assassin from the knife eared trespassers?'"

"' _Knife Eared Trespassers_ '?" Adelia intoned.

"I'm just translating."

The armored augre once more spoke up once more as it haughtily lowered its arm.

"'We crushed you before when you dared to besmirch our home with your disgusting presence! Yet even though you debased yourself to serve a weaker race we took pity upon you and gave you a chance to redeem yourselves under out guidance. And even then when you spat in the face of generosity we gave you another chance after humbling you craven wastrels!'"

The claw swung in a broad but definitely negative gesture.

"'But no more! It is time we end this once and for all for the sake and decency of augres everywhere before you somehow debase us further! Prepare to die!'"

"Be sure not to get any blood on you, my dear."

"Fighting Armor tip #83! Go for the eyes if you can, master!"

And so he did.

The 'king' reared back to bellow out a mighty war cry by the time Naruto lashed out with a pair of kunai aimed at the helmet's visor where the eyes were most prominent. Though one was unfortunately off its mark and bounced off the angled portion of the visor where the augre's nose would be, the other one hit true. Both in pain and caught off guard, the armored augre stumbled back as its normal but armored hand reached up to claw at its face without thinking before finding some sense to pull the visor up to expose its face. At that moment and with an inspiration of a strategy the young overlord swept his minions forth to maul the distracted target as it palmed its face to rid itself of the dagger in its eye. In the meantime he held out his hand which was coated in fire the second later and hurled it, flinging forth the fire in the form of a ball at the chieftain's face. As this was happening the augre who guided him here lumbered forth in a charge of its own as it brought his hammer-like fist up for a swing.

Flames from both the fireball and the red's own bombardment smashed into the augre's face with perfect accuracy just as the armored hand ripped the knife out of its ruin eye and tossed it away. Once more the giant was further staggered, and worse yet vulnerable to both the chargings browns and the augre that followed them. Eagerly the browns rushed his legs and began to wail on them seeing as they couldn't reach any higher than the knee, their weapons loudly clanging against the armor seemingly to no avail. It wasn't such a case for the augre however.

The metallic hammer-fist easily knocked the chieftain down and in doing so enabled the minions to expand their target range, and one even gone so far as to hop onto the augre's plated chest to wail on the monster's face whilst the reds continued to relentlessly target it. Even the on their side augre moved to join in with its fist raised to deliver a killing blow.

That was as far as he could get however.

With a howl of anger and pain the chieftain's normal hand clenched into a fist and swiftly bashed the minion with such force that it flew into the stands and broke what would've once a viable seat; the ghostly phantom that represented the minion's spirit, as defined by Gnarl, instantly snapped and faded away the moment it appeared. Regardless, the chieftain immediately swung its hand up to snap his visor back into place. As he did so he took a wild swing at the opposing augre who swung at him and scored stomach as a result. Panicked, Naruto recalled his minions as their ally stumbled back whilst clutching his stomach to stop the bleeding. In the meantime the 'king' managed to scramble onto his feet and lashed out once more with a backhand from his claw to the otherwise defenseless augre before him, viciously knocking him off his feet in a spin, causing him to land on his stomach.

Once he was done he turned to Naruto with a growl which reverberated from its enclosed space behind the helmet. The kunai that was flung at his remaining eye didn't dissuade the growl in the least. Even worse it goaded him into action when it not only bounced off it but saw that, to Naruto's mounting terror, the young overlord was desperately searching his person for so much as _one more_ kunai to throw at the behemoth. With a snort of derision it lumbered forth and flexed its clawed hand, the rivulets of blood glistening amongst its fingers.

After a quick survey of the damaged done the young overlord couldn't help but worriedly scowl underneath his scarf when he couldn't find a scratch over the sections he knew his minions savaged. At the utter most there was a dent over the augre's left pectoral but even then it was surprisingly shallow given the force behind the blow. As such he didn't consider drawing his own weapon of choice as his mind scrambled over some other means to defeat the towering giant stomping closer to him. His eyes flicked over to the lava coursing around the island and briefly entertained the idea of tricking the chieftain before him. It was possibly but he wasn't going to bank on the possibility of a combined shove between himself and his minions if the opportunity presented itself. Clones maybe? Wait, no! They still didn't know what caused the Tower Heart to act so erratically the last time. Hell, Gnarl swore up and done that it nearly split in two last time when he finally asked about it. Quaver even supported that claim! Thankfully that seemed to be the limit so far regarding chakra techniques. So what could he use to...

He eyed the chains nailed to the ground. He then spared a quick glance at the limbs held high and ready to drop at a moment's notice. He had two shots at this at best. It wasn't like he had a better choice or a more viable plan however.

With an unspoken command he banked right whereas the minions fled to the left where the hammer wielding arm's chain resided. The chieftain spared the minions a glance before ultimately deigning to chase the human with a quickened pace, his claw flexing more vigorously with the obvious thought of fresh blood on his mind. Even so Naruto did his level best to make sure the brute was lumbering toward him with his back turned as the overlord's minions gleefully began to hack and claw at the staples tamping the chains in place, three in all.

As he ran Naruto scanned the floor in the vain hope of possibly finding any of his lost knives as the beast stomped after him. Even so he still kept in mind to ensure the focus was on him, as such, to his chagrin, he slowed himself enough to risk being clawed at, an action the augre eagerly accepted by indeed swiping at him, all the while. While risky, it wasn't out of cockiness.

"He's swinging again!"

"BE CAREFUL!"

Immediately he jumped out of the way, eliciting another growl from the giant that he couldn't help but delight in for but a brief moment. Still the chase continued with him swerving to and fro and onto the stands just to help add variety—

"JUMP!"

Startled into action he did so without thinking and scaled the stadium seating by several rows just in time for a "BOOMF" sound to crackle through the air.

"It seems like he's not playing any more master! Don't get cocky now!" In the meantime Adelia was muttering to the side as if she was trying to calm herself down. "Oh stop that! It's not like he's bathing in acid! ... huh. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm amazed he lived as long as he did before and after he became the Overlord at the time. He made some interesting situations though, idiot though he was."

Gnarl's non sequitur was completely ignored by Naruto as he looked back at the utterly destroyed seating below just as the armored augre ripped his claw out of the drifting dust and rubble. He barely wasted a moment to resume his chase of the blond child in what could only be described as a bloodthirsty jog up the ascending stair-like seats. Though it was a risk Naruto glanced over to the minions to gauge the extent of their work. To his amazement and gratitude it seemed like they were just about ready to finish off the last of the taples binding the chain to the ground. Upon being embolden by this he call the minions off it and had them wait by an imaginary flag as his free hand was lit once more with flames of a magical origin. Those same flames were sent hurtling toward the augre's helmet covered face without Naruto even putting much thought into the action.

Though it undoubtedly did little more than blind him and as such cause the giant to hesitate enough to ensure its balance, Naruto took advantage of the opportunity to leap over the armored juggernaut before the augre could realize it and dashed off in the direction of the hypothesized impact zone. He didn't even hold back his speed either as a roared bellowed out from behind him. The subsequent stomping of plated boots on the ground only confirmed that the augre was hot on his heels once more.

Soon enough he passed the proposed point of impact that he could only guess at it such a short amount of time. Once he was sure he was away from where the hammer would drop he dared to turn around and again lit his hand on fire to once more launch it. The augre upon seeing this suitably did the only sensible thing he could do in his position as he charged at the child and that was to raised his hand to cover his face to better protect it, but in doing so he effectively marred his already muddled sight even further. It was exactly what Naruto was hoping for even as he loosed another fireball at the hand for the sake of the diversion as his minions renewed their assault on the final staple.

 ** _KSNAP!_**

Between the annunciation of metal breaking and the shriek of snaking metal slipping against stone however briefly, it was more than enough to snap the augre out of his charge to investigate the noise. Even after witnessing the last of the chain slip away into the dark of the cavern above and looking up to morbidly confirm as to _what_ that chain was connected to, all the augre could do in his defense was to numbly stagger back a step as the smithing hammer slammed into both him and the ground with a grim and weighted sense of finality.

Naruto stared at the scene for a moment as if struck dumb himself by the hammer only to snap out of it by looking to the left and right to see if the armored enemy would sauntered into sight at any moment. In fact he didn't want to take any chances for whatever it was worth. He recalled his minions and drew his sword as he carefully crept around the fallen stone limb which unerringly rested upon the hammer. when he was past its side he found he was halfway correct in suspecting the tyrant was alive. Or the given value of such. He could almost swear he was hearing gurgling erupt from the closed off helm as it rocked back and forth in a swivel, but with over half his waist and both of his hands having been undeniably crushed underneath the stone mimicry of a smith's implement there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that he was no longer a threat of any sort. For a brief moment Naruto spared a thought toward ending the augre's life to spare it any further suffering rather than leaving it be. Instead however he ignored him for the other augre whom had been ignored since his fall.

"Well, sadly he's alive my lord but otherwise it seems like you won! With irony no less! You definitely have the makings of a great Overlord sire! In fact hold still a moment so I can sketch this one out for my scrap book! Now where did I put that sketch pad of mine..."

"Don't be so crass," Adelia sighed before broaching a new topic. "Still, it is over with. Are you alright though, my dear?"

"Uh, yeah" Naruto mumbled before dashing off to the augre still laying on the ground. "Hey! Hey!" Naruto called to the fallen augre who was his guide and shook his still exposed shoulder. "Are you still alive?"

The augre didn't respond in the slightest no matter how urgently Naruto shook his shoulder which barely budged an inch. Nor did he so much as grunt as Naruto had his minions roll the body over onto its back to exposed just how deep the claw marks actually went. The young overlord nearly gagged out loud upon seeing what remained of the augre's innards peeking out from the body sheering slices that raked it...

It took him a moment to fight the bile that threatened to erupt from his mouth but he managed and for a moment he was at a loss as to what to do. It took an active searching of his own memories to remember that a rebellion was still being fought upstairs, prompting him to rush off to the gangway that lead them here in the first place only for him to stop at the precipice of which as he realized something: even if he were to run all the way back up there, what proof would he have that their boss, the lording augre's chieftain, was defeated? It's not like they would take his word for it...

With a grimace Naruto looked voer his shoulder to the still trapped augre whom continued a vain and pitiful struggle to escape his doom. Soon enough he picked out most easily removed as well as the most likely be recognized item: the helmet.

Reluctantly he jogged over to the still squirming behemoth who, as soon as he spotted Naruto, half gurgled a severely weakened growl at the overlord. He only paid it half a mind as he reached down and worked the helmet off. In a matter of moments the bloodied and scorched face of the augre was pathetically sneering at him as his one remaining eye fought to stay open. Looking at him though, Naruto couldn't help but pity him more than detest him despite what he had done. As such in a moment of illness inducing contrition Naruto handed the helmet off to a minion who almost made to put it on his head were it not for the quick glare Naruto sent it. Regardless, with his hands freed he readied the sword above the augre's ruined eye despite the nausea that was afflicting him at that moment. It was made far worse when the augre began to wriggle its head back and forth in a pitiful last ditch effort to remain alive whilst it put everything else it had left toward an otherwise fruitless attempt to free himself from his stone god's grip. In the end the young overlord closed his eyes and stabbed down with all his might as he did his utter best to ignore the squelching of flesh being pierced as well as the weakened yet thankfully short lived cry of agony.

"Congratulations sire!" Gnarl then tearfully sniffed. "An overlord's first execution is always so magical!"

Naruto dared to peak out from under the protection afforded by his eyelids and found that he struck true. By some miracle his sword found the now dead tyrant's ruined eye and plunged through it, killing him once and for all. He took a deep breath and help quench the bile that threatened to gush out of his throat at long last and regretted it when the wet squelching sound once more rang out. Seeing the thick coating of blood and bits of brain matter that managed to cling to the blade finally did him in however.

"Gnarl! He's just a child! Even with encouragement, he shouldn't be performing such acts!" Adelia fiercely scolded.

"They grow up so fast," Gnarl wistfully sighed.

"You—!"

He tossed the sword out and promptly ignored the clanging of the abandoned metal as he ran for the nearest grate overlooking the lava flow running through the amphitheater. He barely had enough time to yank his scarf out of the way before he finally hurled everything he had been holding back and then some since the first line of defense belonging to the augre stronghold.

"There there sire. It gets easier with time and experience. If it helps you can reserve that sort of thing to people you don't like!"

 _THWACK!_ "DOOF!" _Thump!_

"THAT WAS FOR MY FAVORITE HAT YOU FIEND!" Quaver roared.

"My child, are you alright?" Adelia practically cried. Her response of course came in the form of more retching on Naruto's part. "It'll be alright, my dear," she softly cooed as comfortingly as possible. "Just let it all out..."

After what felt like an eternity Naruto finally pushed himself up to stand on his knees and wiped his lips clean of what spittle and vomit that may of clung to them. He even reached for his canteen only to remember he used it all already. He couldn't help but groan at his fortune as he resorted to spit to cleanse his mouth of the vile taste that now resided in it. While it wasn't water, it worked. A little bit at least.

"My dear?"

"... yeah, I'm alright," Naruto muttered aloud at last. Without looking he swung an arm out which coaxed a minion to break ranks and retrieve his sword for him. Moments later it dutifully returned to him with the bloodied sword in its outstretched claws. He took a deep breath and took it by the handle and simply stared at it, at his reflection even as a small trickle of blood traced through it before widening enough to engulf it. His body lurched at the sight but thankfully only minutely before he steeled himself and finally stood up on his feet. He then flicked his sword to dispel as much blood as he could like he had seen some movie heroes do whenever he managed to sneak into a theater, and sheathed it regardless of what remained on it and turned to his gathered horde of minions who were eagerly awaiting his command. Once he glanced upon the helmet he took it from the minion's grasp with perhaps more force than he would've liked, not that the minion seemed to have minded it. Even so, with his objective in hand he immediately turned to the hanging pathway and ran to it in all haste. His minions were in fact struggling to keep up with him as the distance only grew and grew as the overlord fled the arena and all it held within...


	10. Chapter 10

**I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Have we not long since established that?!**

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Ten: Not forgotten

Chiselle, weeks ago

Wheezing, snorting and growling the corpulent form of a demon lumbered from one corpse after another and rent the few canisters that hadn't already been punctured from their decaying carriers. Alas he not only did it to continue to feed his gluttonous appetite but it was a desperate attempt to distract himself as well as delay the inevitable... work. Work that he should have minions for in the first place! But No! NO! He had ONE minion! ONE! ONE _pretentious_ whelp who, while he wasn't looking, managed to worm her way into being his minder. HIM! HER SUPERIOR IN BOTH _POSITION_ AND **_POWER_**! The only benefit to possibly outweigh her whispering whatever perceived failings back to their commander was the fact that for the time being she was the... 'acting liaison' between both himself and those screeching blue skinned monkeys that Lord Ven'no had deemed useful enough to supervise, idiots though they were.

At least they were quite literally sitting upon a scrumptious deposit of mana. It was almost a shame at how convenient it was too to allow himself a 'valid' excuse to concern himself with more... important matters considering whomever the architect was at the time to make so many tunnels to drain the source. Still, even if there were indeed fissures within the entirety of the network leading to that dome like he was 'searching for' there was a still roughly a hundred years worth of sustenance he could busy himself with... _if_ he was lucky enough to off the less appreciative cretins depending on it without being spied upon... and _if_ Lord Ven'no was forced to busy himself with _another_ move if a Potential was directed at him once more at the same time.

Alas neither was likely to happen. Especially since it seemed that there was a good chance that wretched faux sheep of an underling of his had become wise to his plan to simply be away from the screeching fools who were dragging their feet at this point with their pitiful scheming, their redundant plotting and desperate clinging to their supposed heritage. If not then it was those blue skinned freaks for elves who were desperately attempting to prolong the inevitable by shutting off the connection to this hamlet's mana vent. A distinction without a difference given how both only served to vex him all the same. Furthermore with the deactivation of this vent he was forced to trudge _all_ the way to the nearest vent to see if it was active and kill whatever guards that were trying to shut it off all over again! A monumental labor if there ever was one! The utter bane of his existence!

At the very least there were still plenty of canisters left before he had to shuffle off at least.

With a greedy grunt the demon shorn the top off the tank filled with vapor-like mana, raised it and tilted it as if to chug it much like a beverage. It seemed to have worked as such too despite its misty state too, at first. The demon was quick to notice that only a shocking and extremely unusually low supply that should've been drawn to his tongue. What alarmed him enough to induce his rage however was the feeling of a mystical pull that drew away his coveted mist. To make things even more irksome the pull was deliberately powerful enough to be felt!

In the span of a second a vicious snarl was formed and cast directly at the fool who dared stoke his ire. In the same second that snarl died, replaced with a horrified and cowed whimper the second his beady black eyes came upon the physical shadow copy of his own better whose clawed hand was lazily outstretched and slowly being wreathed with a coalescing swirl of the mystical vapor that was being corrupted from its enchanting and ethereal blue to an almost seductive yet sickened green; though it was still edible, it was far from his preference.

"I see you've been 'busying' yourself as usual, Deminti," Ven'no's shadow double rumbled rather plainly, as if he barely expected anything, in a word, productive to have occurred in the first place... Even though the shadow of the caster lacked the finer features such as eyes, a mouth or any other definitive marker to help identify the caster's mood the demon still shuddered under the undoubtedly cold scrutiny of his own superior.

"M-my lord! W-what is it that brings you out here?" Probably some outright _libel_ report doubtlessly sent by that _worm_ sitting in that dome if he were to guess, not that he would dare breath it in front of the commander of this embarrassingly long invasion. "Everything is going according to plan as we speak! It would only be a matter of time before those blue vermin would be desperate to consume fel energies to survive the eventual onslaught! The famine at worst once they use up the last of the mana!" Despite himself he couldn't keep himself from trembling underneath the unyielding gaze of the shadow which easily towered over him by an entire torso at least if one didn't include the height of Ven'no's folded wings, or his high reaching yet curved horns protruding from the crown of his head. Thankfully, for him at least, any perceived displeasure, real or imagined, was partially mitigated by the curiosity borne from his lord's answer.

"Coincidence. An almost strange twist of fate you could say."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Fernus unfortunately failed in a recent excursion of his when a Potential escaped him. While normally he would finish what he started, he unfortunately is on the trail of another as we speak on the very continent where the first one fled. Surprisingly enough it would seem the one that escaped him had arrived here of all places, under your "watch" no less." If the shadow had eyes they would undoubtedly be narrowed at that very moment with an imperious glare. "Need I go on?"

"N-no," Deminti croaked.

"Good. You know what to do then."

Suddenly the hand which the fel energy coiled around thrust forth with its clawed fingers spread wide open. On his silent order the ethereal energy surged forth like a hail of arrows even as the shadow construct began to dissipate. Not even a moment later a tortured chorus of pierced and ruined metal rung through the air... He didn't need to look to know what happened but he did so anyway. He had hoped that some, even if only one, canisters survived to at least console with. Alas none survived. Already their precious cargo rushed out of colossal gaps rent into their shells and subsequently disappeared.

Without anyone to spy on him he allowed himself a couple of tears at their loss as well as a whimper. Sadly even he couldn't tell if said whimper was from the loss of his delicacy or from fear knowing what would happen if he failed any further in Ven'no's eyes.

XVX

Naruto's throne room, Giant's Forge, present

Upon being seated as the apparent lord of the augres within Ogre's Mount Naruto was soon introduced to an entirely new problem he had never remotely thought of: governance. If it wasn't the language barrier, mitigated by Gnarl somewhat between boats of yelling at the other minions for one reason or another during the move to Ogre's Mount, it was the undeniable growing tension between the defeated tribe of augres and those loyal to the overlord himself. Sadly his rule only seemed to compound the ill will that was already in place.

Resistance was one thing to be expected really with the tribe they had recently deposed, novice or not: in having ordered them to right their wrongs as well as start the repair work from the previous siege the defeated tribe did everything within their power to procrastinate, dragged their feet, 'accidently' ruining tools... the tribe of augres that eagerly followed him particularly took offense to this when these 'accidents' extended to the more proper armaments for their crippled kin... When the first of the brawls started Naruto learned the hard way that fireballs could only do so much against beings who not only thrived in the heat of a working forge but decided to live in a volcano in the first place. In comparison his lightning whip was a more effective choice, if only to grab their attention before the newly formed brute squads cracked skulls in the name of order.

Speaking of which...

Augre fortifications, according to Gnarl, were built to last much like their dwarvern counterparts, again according to Gnarl. In other words aside from not having to worry about having the ceiling fall on anyone's head or a wall collapsing barring extenuating circumstances of a near literal earth shattering sort, even an artifact like the Tower Heart seem to have trouble breaching the augre's stonework to supply him with either way gates or minion gates for that matter, from a distance at least. Once it was installed within the stronghold however the sheer proximity should weakened certain sections of the superstructure without endangering it, or so Gnarl had postulated. At any rate however until Gnarl arrived with the artifact and apparently the minion hives he had to deal with the growing animosity himself with the newfound formed brute squads composed either of the tribe loyal to him or what he could only believed to be the defectors of the defeated tribe seeing as they weren't as scorned as much by the former slaves. Even so the forceful peace they bought both him and the stronghold was mercurial at best, and Naruto was practically beating his head against the wall trying to think of a better solution. Sadly other than somehow bypassing that strange limitation with the Tower Heart toward making shadow clones the most he could think of on short notice was making scarecrow copies of himself to make it look like he was watching them from all over the fortress city. Unfortunately he _sincerely_ doubted how effective that would be...

With nothing but dead ends to contemplate about so far in regards of finding a solution to his current dilemma he almost welcomed the giant double door leading to his apparent throne room slamming open. The key word being _almost_ given that so far it always meant that one of the dutiful augres loyal to him came with news that _another_ fight broke out somewhere in his newfound domain. Surely enough an augre came thundering in, his arms frantically waving as he shouted at the top of his lungs. It must have been a particularly nasty one compared to the other reactions he observed thus far given the augre was practically hopping in and out whilst gesturing for him to follow. In the end he did, his minions dutifully and eagerly following him as they often did.

XVX

Third Level Defense Emplacements

In a twisted way he soon preferred having to deal with another riot once it dawned on him that he was on the receiving end of a siege. On the bright side however he didn't have to bother with orders of any kind. With an evident enemy at their doorstep what animosity the two tribes had for one another was tossed aside as they manned their apparent battle stations at the ballistae. Even then there was a company assembled in a formation with shields at the front, a select few augres with both hands armed with augre sized crossbows behind the shield bearers and a squad of armless augres behind them all, all of whom garbed with a breastplate and open faced helmet. And finally some manned what looked to be levers attached to chains hidden an attacker's view by massive pillars that helped framed the walkways to the ballista stations. Only one augre manned each lever however as the rest bore what looked to be axes and hammers, most likely to cut the chains themselves if push came to shove. Even so, if he had to guess then they were most likely release levers for the block of stone which loomed overhead the bridge. All of this didn't necessarily make him feel better though: after all, what could make the augres screaming, both literally and figuratively, out the doorway leading to the bridge, cross the bridge in a matter of seconds and barely keep themselves from smashing into the defensive line? Limited though his experience was with them, he doubted the Renouvelé elves ever elicited such a reaction from these giants.

 ** _KERKRACK-FWOOOM!_**

He would have his answer soon enough however it would seem.

As chunks of stone and debris flew and clattered along the bridge a jet of green fire belched forth from the portal for but a brief moment before vanishing as flame ought to do. In its place however smoke and dust flowed out of the doorway, masking who or what had done such damage from view from the other side of the bridge. Thankfully however this intruder seemed to have had no mind for stealth. Though it was faint at first, especially at a distance, gasping and wheezing of an unhealthy sort was not only heard but was growing louder by the minute. Not once did it calm or seem affected in the slightest by the destruction the originator of which was wading through. As such, other than the obvious, it wasn't hard to connect the wheezing voice to the sole creature that waddled through the slowly diminishing haze...

His first thought was the demon from before in the forest if only for minute details he recalls of cloven hooves for feet and horns upon its head, both of which smaller than what he remembered. And from what details he gathered from Gnarl and his minions about "Big Red" as they called him, he was, as the name suggested, _red_ as opposed to _pasty white_. Another contrast that, according to Gnarl and Quaver, Big Red didn't seem to wear anything more than a loin cloth, not that Naruto noticed in the darkness as the demon was hunting him. This one however wore body covering armor, sans for its claw like hands and its revealed bald head for what it's worth... how anyone was able to make that much armor for an enormous blob of a disproportionate ball that was his body on _almost_ comically diminutive legs, in comparison at least, without breaking against the very fat that was bulging against it was just mind boggling for the young teen. Another detail he was fairly certain that further differentiate this demon from the other was the fact that on the pale one's back jutted out a pair of large, folded bat-like wings... to be fair though he wasn't sure nor had he even asked if Big Red had any wings himself, not that it mattered at the moment.

Regardless, almost as soon as the wheezing thing seemingly laboriously sauntered onto the bridge one of the augres bellowed out what sounded like an order. At once the ballistae opened fire on the demon and were promptly reloaded. A good thing too. Though the demons stiffened in surprise at fist it threw up a claw. Just before the first of the bolts hit him a translucent barrier of sickly green power enveloped the demon which the aforementioned bolt smashed against to no success. The others fared no better as they bounced off the shield as well, yet it didn't deter the defenses in the least. Despite the shield bolt after bolt was launched against the demon, especially as it began to hobble forth, gasping the entirety of the way. To make matters worse as the ballista bolts fruitlessly pounded against the shield, the demon's other hand almost flopped about in a wave as waved about. The gesture's purpose was immediately made apparent when a pale green beam lashed forth from the confines of the shield toward a ballista's balcony and struck it, annihilating it with an explosion of energy, debris, the broken remains of the defensive and limbs. Yet the defenders were still not deterred. In fact they ramped up their offense.

A thunderous, stony 'clunk'ing erupted overhead as previously unseen partitions slide open above the balconies to reveal even more crossbowmen at the ready as well as a few more ballistae. Without even being ordered to they opened fire on the demon. Sadly it was to no avail. The demon, gasping and wheezing with each step as if he was to collapse at any moment, continued to advance without being harmed in the slightest. The body count and destruction only rose as one balcony or parapet was obliterated at a time. Even a second partition that was revealed directly above the bridge itself did nothing more than stall the demon when the augres there poor boiling oil atop the creature; while it didn't harm him in the slightest, his hoofed feet found trouble in their attempt to find purchase with the stone walkway they toddled over for a time till the oil was dedicatedly burned away by jets of green flame. In fact it seemed as if the demon was utterly unstoppable beyond the simple hope that _he'd drop dead_ thanks to his condition... that is until he passed underneath the gigantic stone which loomed over the bridge. All it took was a decisive bark from the apparent captain for the teams to yank on their respective levers.

 ** _SMASH!_**

"Hm? What? Sorry sire, I was a bit... distracted at the moment. What did I miss?" Gnarl obviously paused for a moment as he observed the scene that was of Naruto witnessing small chunks of stone that used to be part of the bridge fall into the spiked hell below. "Figures. The one time I make sure the reds don't wander off _again_ and you successfully fended off your first overpowered intruder in your new dungeon. Ah well, I guess we could dig out its corpse from the pit there. What was it anyway?"

"I think," Naruto slowly began, "it was one of Big Red's friends..."

"... shit."

 ** _"_** ** _GRRAAAAAAAAH!"_**

With the bellow came a malevolent beam composed of the unmixed union of sickly green and brackish purple which tore into the ceiling above where the weight used to be. The resulting explosion easily obscured the view of the otherwise hidden level above if not destroying it completely, not to mention rained down debris and stone shrapnel that both pelted and bounced off of the armor and toughened hides of the augre guards. Regardless however the cause of the destruction once more made himself known by rising of the pit, his wings outstretched and beating against the air like a raven with slightly tattered leather wings. Before the first of the ballista teams could open fire though the ball of flesh curled in itself for but a moment before, with a grunted shout, threw all of his limbs wise as a nova of green energy rushed out from the demon which blinded all who was in view of it. Those that could turn did or else made use of whatever was on hand to keep themselves from being blinded at the very least. Unfortunately that was when the screaming started. Augres', minions', and Naruto's included.

Failing to realize the danger he was in Naruto turned his back in a bid to keep himself from being robbed of his vision. While he succeeded in that regard the wave hit him all the same... it was like being set on fire, however briefly, while being bludgeoned all at once as it bowled him and his minions over.

"Master! _Master_! Are you alright?!" An agonized groan was his only reply as Naruto tried to push himself back onto his knees if nothing else as he ignored the ensuing sound of a battle behind him. "If you still have that emergency potion on you then I suggest taking it!"

For a brief moment Naruto drew a blank as to what Gnarl was talking about. Thankfully with the receding pain his mind was afforded some clarity to better remember the small potion Quaver had tucked away into his belt for just an occasion; he practically forgotten all about it considering it was meant for his very first raid. Regardless, as soon as he remembered it he grabbed for it and yanked it free of its protective covering. He wasted no time in ripping out the stopper and downing the contents in one go. Immediately he felt better though not as he was before that blast hit him. Even so he soon found the strength to stand, arm himself with his short sword and whip around to demon once more only to pause in terror to see it standing amongst fresh corpses which lay at its hooves.

The entire squad that was before him had been slaughtered: a few must have died on the spot in the initial blast considering that they were the furthest away from the ground freshly stained in blood, all of whom lacked shields. As for everyone else, it was obvious that they had charged at the demon the moment it had landed as the few remaining ballistae fired upon him, distracting him. It wasn't enough apparently. Even from a distance it looked like the demon's claws were drenched in fresh blood as ruined or else shattered shields were laying uselessly amongst the defeated augres amongst their portion of the ruined walkway, never mind the destroyed ballista. Other than the blood of others coating and flecking him in spots, the winged demon looked no worse for wear beyond gasping perhaps a little more horridly than before as he sat amongst his kills. In fact he almost looked to be on the verge of collapsing on the spot as he fanned itself, not minding in the least of the amount of blood he was splashing onto his face.

"I was afraid something like this might happen," Gnarl muttered. "I was just hoping there would be more time before they sent another one after you."

" _Please_ tell me that this thing isn't invincible!" Naruto groaned through gritted teeth as his eyes flicked between the demon and the bodies before him, his grip on his weapon of choice tightening in the meantime. He spared a glance toward his minions and found to his grim distaste that the reds hadn't survived the attack seeing as they hadn't reassembled behind him like the browns had.

"Thankfully yes, though it will require a bit cunning more often than not. Those augres wouldn't have by chance been collecting a few of those mana canisters, have they?"

"Yeah," Naruto carefully drawled without looking away from the demon as it continued to fan itself.

"Good. Very good. Thankfully that _thing_ you see before you is an complete and utter glutton. Something we can use to our advantage!" Gnarl darkly giggled. "Just show him _just enough_ of his favorite meal and he'll delightfully forget you in a heartbeat, provided of course you don't do anything to nab his attention. Those blues learned that the hard way when they went to check on the guards originally stationed in that village we initially arrived in!" Gnarl chortled once more.

"At any rate however sire... While I may not exactly be a genius amongst arcane and terrestrial sciences, that misty mana does seem to act sort of like pressurized gas, and gas has a tendency to explode when someone is stupid enough to bring a torch into the room. If you can lure that fat bastard into a room full of those canisters and open one up just enough it would not only distract him but if you say, toss a torch at a nearby barrel of gunpowder, then _KABLOWEY_! If nothing else then it would at least distract him for a good old fashioned knife in the back."

"Okay! One question though!"

"Yes master?"

"What's gunpowder?"

"... would you happen to have those exploding pieces of paper on you?"

"They didn't exactly give them out as academy supplies..." Naruto groaned as he paled whilst the demon seemingly recovered enough of its energy to stand back up once more.

"... just start running! We'll figure something out later!"

"Right!"

Without further prompting he turned on his heel and ran down the hall he originally came from. Needless to say his minions followed him as well. So did the demon as well... eventually.

... and a shadow that only moved from the safety of the destroyed maze once there was nothing left to spy upon it.

XVX

Forge Works

Even if the task was simple enough for an imp to do it, which he _should_ have been supplied with as a courtesy to begin with(!), he _still_ hated it! By the Dark One's name this brat couldn't have been considerate enough to sit still in a hovel long enough for him to track him down and kill him! After breaking a siege he would've thought the mortal would've indulged himself in the luxuries of life those blackened wretches would've provided him, but no! The mortal had to set off into the woods! A fact the dread lord would've missed if he hadn't chanced upon that grumbling scout while looking for a quick snack to take the edge off! While yes it saved him an inordinate amount of effort of either sneaking in or simply forcing his way in, an exhausting effort either way, it also forced him to make the teeth gnashing effort of 'being nice' to those wasteful buffoons who breathed in that delicious meal as opposed to _at least_ attempt to enjoy it as a delicacy _just enough_ to loosely track the runt! Even then it wasn't enough!

But that doesn't matter now that he found him after eliminating the villages south and southeast of this mountain where the trail didn't exist. Now that brat had him romping through **_another_** maze within this gigantic crypt in order to _chase him_! _CHASE!_ And worst yet he didn't have the courtesy to **_die_** from either his attempts to obliterate him when the dreadlord _did_ see him or in his attempts to annihilate the Potential through the blinding amount of walls and dust. Ever since coming to this world **_NOTHING_** has been going his way! What did he do to—

Deminti paused as a delicious scent wafted through the air. A deliciously _familiar_ scent! For but a brief moment he was stymied with indecision between finishing the job and taking a well deserved break from this seemingly endless and cycling excruciating humiliation and pointlessly taxing make-work... his hunger won in the end of this two second debate.

He easily brushed and shoved his way through the inconsiderately placed boxes, weapon racks and anvils toward a doorway left open by a finger's length. Despite the distance which practically sought to suffocate him he reached the door, tore it open and appreciatively marveled at the beautiful sight that was a cache of those lovingly crafted canisters holding pure mana within them! Oh how he almost shed a tear as he practically danced his way to the nearest one, reached for it and easily tore the top of which off! While a part of him wandered as to such stock was here of all places, he wasn't truly going to question it. In fact for all he 'knew' the Potential had somehow gotten it into his head that this richly palatable collection would boost his might! Surely Ven'no wouldn't begrudge him from taking 'precautions' now, would he?

Before even the first mote of vapor could flit its way into the open air the canisters was lifted and tilted back like a drink, one that was chugged with such eagerness that a brown minion was readily ignored even as it dashed to him whilst giggling rather dementedly. Within its claws was what looked to have been a bleeding rat. He ignored the both of them still when the minion abruptly snapped the vermin's neck and lobbed it at the dreadlord before fleeing the scene with a cackle.

XVX

A few minutes earlier

The fleeing, the scurrying, the hiding from a predator out for his blood... _it was like that night all over again_... At least there weren't any anbu attempting to murder him this time around.

Even so he kept enough of his wit about him to hide in the clouds of dust when the demon tried to vaporize him whenever he lost sight of Naruto through a turn in the corridor. While vague, he was sure he was following the path to the forge area which contained the supply of mana that the augres were trying to experiment with in their more exotic creations despite having to take a few detours. He didn't dare think otherwise for the sake of his sanity which desperately clung to this plan. He was not wasting his second chance at a better life to this _thing_ barreling after him! With that in mind and when he was blessed with a growing grace period between increasingly wild and near random shots the further he pulled ahead of the demon his mind was scrambling for a solution to kick off Gnarl's plan. Sadly he couldn't think of anything: he had no explosive tags on him. He wasn't aware of any supply closets near or on the path to the forge that was his destination so he couldn't even improvise by throwing what would amount to acid at the winged ball of pale flesh, never mind some kind of explosive powder! And Gnarl wasn't exactly helping either with his muttering as he was apparently reading a spell book in the meantime to find something to outperform the damage caused by a fireball—

Wait, maybe he could use the canisters to bolster his spells? It might work! Then again he hadn't exactly had time to learn or experiment with sources that originated elsewhere than himself which, according to Helos, could be exponentially dangerous if not deadly if done too recklessly!

Alright, he could forget about magic based solution for the time being. Perhaps something more mundane? If Gnarl was right and this guy was happily going to ignore the world around him then... maybe he could flood the room with lava? Being a volcano and through hook and crook the augres managed to dredge up and construct direct lines of the mountain's lifeblood to better heat their furnaces, smelters and anvils if need be when any of which was positioned just right. That would mean he would have to scrounge up some augres first though, not that he had seen any since this chase began. Either way however there was no guarantee that the demon would either blast them the moment he saw them before hand or stay 'ignorant' long enough for them to finish some makeshift pipe to splatter it with a magma bath, _if_ he can find any at least.

 _GAH!_

What else could he do?!

It wasn't like he could lock him up in the room with the mana canisters and hope it's enough to seal him away!

Wait... didn't the Forbidden Scroll have something about seals in it? Yeah, it did! Some weird circle with eight pointed ends! And this weird set with segmented blocks if he recalled correctly! Now where was that...

He left it in the throne room. WHY DID HE LEAVE THE SCROLL IN THE THRONE ROOM AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!

Before he could berate himself he arrived at his destination and with barely a thought dove to his left toward the forge's storeroom. He practically kicked the door down in his haste and scoured the room for the first of the canisters that ought to be there. Thankfully they were. Also thankfully they were rather easy to open, either from the top like a twist cap or from its nozzle which, if memory served right, was the Renouvelé's primary means to replenishing the tank's contents from their massive storage tanks. He almost went straight for the top itself but managed to have the wherewithal to stop himself: if he had pried it open then the mana stored within would basically rush out, depleting it long before the demon could catch a whiff of it short of somehow having catch up to Naruto and stayed inordinately quiet enough to stand right behind him; thankfully he wasn't but that was besides the point! Instead he unsealed the nozzle and let the mana hiss out a fine ethereal steam. Once that was done he was quick to escape the room and find himself a dark corner to plot his next step.

If he was right then there was no direct path to the throne room that he was aware of. Then again it wasn't like he knew the city like the back of his hand yet. Regardless, there was a good chance the demon lost track of him along the way and was now roaming the halls, following a scent or no. While his horrid gasping did help track him to a degree, the young overlord knew well enough that noises echoed off the walls... at the wrong place at the wrong time the demon would either spot him because he sounded to be coming from one place yet really from another. Or worse yet potentially track the overlord if he made too much noise in trying to keep out of sight. If not him then the minions at least whom had barely any sense of stealth even with his supervision, regardless of the circumstances. Even if he got past without incident, what guarantee did he have that he would come back in time, much less without encountering the demon? There were roughly... twenty? Thirty canisters at the most in that room. Would it be enough for him to thoroughly read the scroll and perform a seal correctly? It took him maybe an hour at most to get the hang of the shadow clone jutsu so maybe not.

This was frustrating!

Just as Naruto was about to yank on his hair in frustration and groan to himself the demon's wheezing rumbled into the forge. As a precaution Naruto ducked behind a stack of crates and carefully peeked out whilst his minions similarly copied him behind a pillar. Regardless, the winged demon sauntered into the room, wheezing and gasping like before as his hooves plodded rather noisily along the stone work and the steal grating for a small river of lava which provided a sense of heat for the sunless room. Thankfully it seemed the demon had no clue he was in here as he trekked toward the only other exit in the room. He came to an abrupt stop however halfway through after navigating his way around an anvil. At first the demon stiffened as he sniffed the air. After a few more sniffs and craning his head some his eyes locked onto the doorway Naruto busted through but minutes earlier. Once it seemed like he confirmed what was inside it all guttural pronouncing of his gasping had ceased as he utterly bulldozed everything in his path to the storage room in a near mindless display of casual power which shunted anvils, loaded racks and crates loaded with ore or ingots with casual ease at most. Needless to say the door faired no better in mildly impeding him at best.

After positioning himself to get a better look Naruto grimaced upon seeing the effortless opening of the canister and its subsequent chugging of its contents. This item which was comparing in length to a torso was already a third empty in just seconds if he was reading the clear glass gauge on its side correctly. Twenty-to-thirty mana tanks weren't likely to hold him in one place long enough if Naruto was estimating it correctly. He had to act now.

Alright, how did either of them go? He needed an object for sure. No wait... not quite. He needed a... living subject? Immediately he thought of the minions but quickly dismissed the thought. What if he messed up? They didn't deserve that—whatever it was if a seal failed, especially a faulty one. Was there something else? A rat maybe? He was fairly certain he saw some here and there. It was worth a shot though. With a sweep of his hand he essentially ordered his remaining troop of six minions to search the forge for a rat. A mouse even if it came to that. Thankfully the search didn't take longer than a quick dash as a minion not only found what Naruto needed with an elated cry but brought the squirming and biting thing to him whilst the others reconvened with the overlord. Thanks to that cry however Naruto tensed as he desperately tried to hide himself while keeping an eye on the demon to see if he had taken notice. To his relief however it seemed Gnarl's claim was spot on in that the fel thing didn't so much as glance away from the now halfway finished canister. With a sigh of relief Naruto grabbed the rat, grimaced and clenched his teeth as the pest readily turned its fury onto him as he readied a knife to morbidly carve the symbols onto its hide. Two thoughts however stayed him in spite of the growing amount of blood now coming to soak his glove as the rat's fangs frantically tore at him in a desperate hope of escape.

First and foremost was the fact that of the two seals he could vaguely remember one was... weird looking if he recalled. Like it was painted to not only look like a spike but some kind of... vine covered one? In other words harder to make out from a hazy memory alone. The other however was much more simplistic and easier to remember with its blocky design... there was no guarantee of some kind of desirable result however, which led to the second point which was, for all intents and purposes, a little more complicated... It couldn't be as simple as drawing lines, could it? There had to be more to it! Like magic for example: his original skeptical belief in it set aside, it literally wasn't as simple as saying "alakazam!" to blow up a tapestry BY ACCIDENT! While Helos did try to cram the finer points into his skull, it was far closer to a gut feeling than wiggling the fingers of the casting hand... which kind of helped with some spells actually. But that wasn't the point. To break it down it was feeling, molding, shaping and the will to exert the mana within oneself. Kind of like chakra!

... could seals be made of chakra? It would kind of explain how the paper bombs work if that was the case...

If that was the case, does that mean he would have to somehow... carve a seal onto the rat with his chakra? Sickening as it was, never mind the fact he already decided to sacrifice a rat to do it in the first place, was that possible? Or did he need some kind of medium? What would work as a medium—HIS BLOOD! If magic was real then so was blood magic if the various manga he got his hands on were to be even partially right! Never has a rat carving into his hand with its teeth ever been so convenient!

... which was a sentence not often contemplated on most days.

The rat squeaked as his grip tightened enough to paralyze it long enough for him to dap an unmolested finger into his own blood and paint the rat's hide with the geometric blocks infused with a rough flow of his chakra, or at least he hoped so as he ignored the pained squealing from the creature. Once that was done he handed it over to a minion and directing said minion to the storage room. As usual with nary a sign of care for its own well being the minion charged into the storage room without the demon deigning so much as a glance toward it... and from there Naruto was stumped by a question he should've seen coming: how did he activate the seal without entering the same room as the bat-winged creature that was on the verge of finishing off the first of the canisters. The only thing he could think of that could set it off was...

... he honestly couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy, all things considered.

With a thought and a thrust of the hand the minion who carried the rat heeded his unspoken command and snapped the vermin's neck before lobbing the fresh corpse at the demon and fleeing before he could register the annoyance. While he did once the tiny cadaver struck him, even bothered to look down at the general vicinity of where he was struck with a curious hum, he only snorted as he casually drank the last of the canister's contents. Even Naruto was disappointed in seeing that nothing had happened.

"Alright! I'm back sire! Sadly the most I can find that might work on short notice is a recipe for demon repellent and an explosion spell! Unfortunately I'm fairly certain the first one is aimed at local demons, so we'll have to make do with blasting his brains out...! Um, sire? What's that?"

Having been momentarily startled by Gnarl into hiding anew, Naruto cautiously peeked out just in time to witness a transparent black domed field erupt from the carcass if the rat that was as high as he was tall. It certainly drew the demon's lazily curious attention just as he was about to finish off his 'drink.' The dome crackled and roiled for a brief second before condensing into a tight opaque ball around the dead rat. It held for just as long before it expanded far faster than his eye to track—

 ** _SHWOOM!_**

 _"_ _GAAAAAAAAGH!"_

"Oooh! Please tell me that was your plan master! If that was an accident then we'll tell anyone who asks it was your idea anyway! Such things scare away the more stupid would be usurpers at the very least."

"Uh... sort of?"

"GOOD!" Gnarl cackled. It died soon after as an unfortunately figure limped out into view from the resulting dust and smoke that belched out of the storeroom, wheezing and gasping as he did before... though heavily pained.

The demon staggered into clear view though he wasn't unscathed in the least. His beady black eyes were glazed over with pain as he stumbled into a set of crates he hadn't knocked over yet. As this was happening bright green yet toxic smelling blood drenched the floor wherever he went like a river. Soon enough his lurching revealed the direct cause of his state as a sickening chunk of his backside was shown to be missing. Worse yet, much to Naruto's growing horror, underneath the blubber and muscle that remained more than a few bones were peaking out. For better or worse though this devastating wound which his unholy blood poured from like a waterfall was his undoing as made evident with him desperately yet weakly grasping at the crates for some kind of support, his claws simply scoring and raking the wood and iron rivets with ease instead as he finally toppled onto the ground and uttered a whimpering sigh of death.

For moments on end Naruto simply stood and stared at the unmoving corpse, partially out of awe at bringing him down when an entire battle emplacement couldn't scratch him. Another part was out of disgust as he drank in the fact that he managed to kill it in a far more horrifying fashion compared to the augre chieftain. As for another reason, fear. Was he truly dead as he appeared? Was there still some life left in him despite his wound and blood loss? There was only one way to find out.

He never once took his eyes off the foul smelling demon as he knelt down and grabbed the first thing convenient to his blind grasp, an abandoned piece of ore or at least it felt as much to him. With said piece he threw it at the corpse and struck it only for it to bounce off the unmoving body. Sadly Naruto wasn't convinced. As such he risked a minion next whom happily charged in and began to wail on the cadaver with a looted mace. It was only minutes off watching this dementedly gleeful one sided beating that Naruto felt safe enough to breathe a sigh of relief.

It was also at this moment that Gnarl began to cackle anew with reinvigorated energy. "YOU DID IT SIRE! YOU DID IT! QUAVER! QUAVER! Where is... Oh never mind—GIBLET!" Gnarl's overexcited jubilation was only minutely interrupted with the surprise grunting of a minion yanked to the Minion Master's side. "LOOK! LOOK! HE NAILED ONE OF THOSE BASTARDS!"

"Huh? ... GWAAAAH! HE DID! MASTER KILLED ONE! YEEEAAAAH!"

"Huh? What?" Quaver asked as he seemingly just arrived on the scene. "Did something... Is that what I think it is!"

"IT IS!"

"BY THE MOON AND STARS!" Quaver exclaimed. "THOSE BASTARDS ARE DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL! WHERE'S MY QUILL AND INK?! I NEED TO WRITE A POEM ABOUT THIS! ... Wait, Gnarl? Where are you—... Giblet?"

"Yeah?"

"Did Gnarl just kiss an elf?"

"He did!"

"And he claims I get carried away when I get excited," Quaver huffs.

"You faint a lot though!"

"Be that as it—NO! GNARL! PUT DOWN THAT—" Whatever was to be said soon faded away as Quaver quickly departed from the Tower Heart's presence. While Naruto was indeed curious, he had a new problem to consider however: how was he going to drag this body to the lava steam below to get rid of it without splashing the creature's apparently acidic blood all over the place?

As he was considering this while eying the newly forming gouges that ate away at the stone flooring he didn't notice the vaguely shaped dark spot haunting the corner of the room. It disappeared with as much regard as well long before Naruto finally moved to find any of the augres residing in the fortress city.

 **A/N: Kind of a post scrip note really. When I got done with this chapter it was pretty much midnight and I was just tired... hopefully that didn't affect the quality of the story for you guys. If it did, then I'm sorry. Still though...**

 **I actually wasn't keen on writing a note for this chapter. Namely because I didn't feel like there was anything worth to note per se. In retrospect I suppose I need to make something a tad clear: yes, Naruto attempted to perform the reverse four seals... seal (Cough). However, as noted above, he couldn't _quite_ remember it correctly. That and coupled with his inexperience with seals not only did he botch it, it essentially acted more like a grenade as opposed to the black hole the proper version is more reminiscent to.**

 **So yeah... he's nowhere near being a seal master for the time being (Cough the second!).**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds. Especially after ten chapters in! That's on you!**


End file.
